


Apricate

by Stopdroptoohot



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Awkward Flirting, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, First fic please be nice, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Helmetless Din Djarin, I don't know what I'm doing don't assume I do, Mentions of past abuse, No Smut, Siblings, Slow Burn, Touch-Starved, baby yoda is a bit of a goblin, sporatic updates, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:20:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27880645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stopdroptoohot/pseuds/Stopdroptoohot
Summary: Apricate: (intransitive) to sunbathe or bask in the sun. 2. ( transitive) to expose to sunlight.“This is the Way—”“Stop.” She put her hand up, leaning forward. She looked straight into his visor. “Stop with the ‘this is the Way.’ I don’t want your obligation. I told you this because I thought it was important, not because I wanted anything.” When he didn’t say anything, she fell back into the seat. “I owe you enough for transporting my sister and I as it is.”“You saved my life, if anything, I owe you.” She narrowed her gaze at him.“Accept my thanks.”“Accept my help,” he shot back, just as quick.(see also: two idiot Mandalorians fall in love. Chaos ensues.)
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Din Djarin, Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Original Character(s), Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 72





	1. Chapter 1

The last thing she remembers is the sense of panic and the blaring of alarms, then the artificial gravity lost functionality and she was flung to the ceiling, where everything went black.

-:-

Her waking world was no better than the one before, though. A serious concussion with minimal medical supplies. A broken power generator with no supplies to fix it, let alone the proper tools. The off-planet radio was completely broken, smashed into a puzzle that could never be assembled. Limited clean water and food supply. The only signs of life around her were a few small creatures she had heard skittering through the dry under brush. 

The planet was on the smaller side, so small it wasn’t printed on her physical copy of the star charts. The air was breathable though, and while the weather was near unbearably hot more often than not, at least it didn’t drop below freezing at night. When she started catching the marmot-like creatures in an attempt to prolong her food supply, she was pleased to find that they weren’t all that bad, either. The lack of power didn’t bother her much either, because with the sheer amount of moons this back hole planet had it was always bright enough to see at night. One of the moons had a base on it that was visible at night.

It had taken a month of surviving on the unnamed planet, food supplies running dangerously low, before she had her first real break. Smoke, in the distance. The planet had dry vegetation with a drier climate. It could have been a forest fire, a bushfire— something naturally combustible. All these options went through her mind as she packed a bag for a few days' journey. The thought that it might be nothing played through her head on repeat even as she trudged through the open, dry land.

It was a farmer, doing a burn pile. He took one look at her banged up appearance and brought her in, introduced his wife, and let her take a shower that she would normally count as an abuse of clean water. She explained her story, and they told her of the planet and the people on it.

L’Iunn IV. L’Iuun for the star system, IV for the fourth planet from the central star. A practical name for a seemingly practical people. Dane, the farmer, and his wife, Idun, both well past their middle age, she was assured. Idun sold what her husband grew and ranched at a settlement nearby, half a day walking, an hour and half by their cargo speeder. They offered to take her in the morning to get supplies. She accepted their offer, and the food they thrust in her direction as she was led to an extra room, decorated for a child.

It was a relief to take her helmet off and have a well cooked meal for the first time in months, even before she crashed down.

-:-

She needed supplies. Her fresh food stocks were running low, and her soap was almost gone. 

“You sure you don’t need anything?” She turned her helmet to look at Dane through her visor as the two loaded up the cargo speeder with farm products. Idun stepped out of the house, wrapping a scarf around her head.

“I don’t need anything,” he grunted as he slid another crate into the speeder. It’s a familiar argument. She grinned.

“I know for a fact that Jemtuu is selling candied fruit at the market today.” She loaded up the last of crates. Dane narrowed his four eyes at her.

Jemtuu was the couple's eldest son. He'd moved out years ago and established his own orchard a few miles away. It took a lot of work to keep the trees in good health in this environment, but the trees had finally started to turn a profit in the last couple of years. Idun and Dane were very proud of their son's accomplishment.

“Better to just buy it for him instead of asking if he wants it, dear,” Idun added to their conversation, holding up her skirts to climb up into the speeder.

 _“Bah.”_ Dane reached over to rap on her helmet with a knuckle, which she bared with a smile he couldn’t see. “I _don’t_ need anything.” She jumped off the edge of speeder, fine yellow dust puffing up around her ankles.

“Hmm, I’m glad to be reminded of it. I’ll make sure to pick up a couple packs for you.” She patted him on the shoulder, and laughed when Dane brushed her hand aside with a groan.

“Get going, you pest.”

“Come on, Ravi,” Idun turned from her position in the front, looking over her shoulder. “Leave the grump to tend to the birds.”

_“Bah.”_

Ravi swept her cloak to the side as she climbed into the speeder. Idun laughed at her husband, and she grinned along as the vehicle growled to a start.

It’s a short trip to town. What had once been bordering on a two hour journey was now a breezy 45 minutes, ever since Ravi had gotten permission to tune up the speeder. It was the largest settlement on this side of the planet, she’d been informed, though she hadn’t had much of an opportunity to explore L’Iuun IV beyond travels to the market in Hynd, Idun and Dane’s home and land, and around her crashed ship where she had set up base. The town Hynd was sprawling, though small, and very flat, homes close to the ground with white painted roofs to help reflect the star’s rays. The people here were much like the couple, no nonsense and very practical, open minded enough to let her into their small community. 

The ride to Hynd was quiet, filled only with the sound of sand spitting off of the wind shield, too loud to have anything other than a shouted conversation. Generally, Idun saved any gossiping for the actual market, which Ravi appreciated. It was nice to be able to sit idly by and collect information from others, even if it was who was shacking up with who or who’s child had done the most darndest thing recently.

Ravi pulled up on the gear as they approached town, slowing as she drove through the streets to the center, where the market was set up weekly. The town was quiet, most people just waking up to start their day, which would most likely begin by a cup of caf followed by a trip to the market, as there was no permanent standing building for a grocer. She pulled the speeder to a stop just behind their designated spot, nodding at the people at the tent nearby that were already setting up.

Ravi made quick work of setting up the tent, and began unloading the produce as Idun directed where everything should be placed. Before she crashed, Dane had been the one to accompany Idun to the market, but since Ravi had no way of getting to where she needed to be at the moment, she’d been given work with little questions asked. Well, on the part of Dane, at least. Idun was, as previously mentioned, a bit of a gossip.

Still, even as she started sweating under her armor as she unloaded a dozen plus crates under the hot rising star, she was grateful. They gave her a support system, a purpose while she tried to get back to hers, and work to keep her distracted while she contemplated her essentially marooned status. The couple had never once asked her to remove her helmet, or seemed upset at all when she explained why she wouldn’t, however much she appreciated them. They were wonderful people, and there was no way she was going to be able to pay them back. 

Which is why she never once complained when Idun made her move half the crates to the otherside of the tent in an attempt to bring in my customers, nevermind the fact that it never worked. It’s why she never complained when Dane had her help mucking out stalls then fertilizing the fields with it. It’s why she never complained when it seemed that half of the gossip on this planet was about her.

“I just think you should get out more, dear,” Auda stated, pursing her lips. She was taking a break from her own stall, where she sold ranched birds and four legged creatures that Ravi couldn’t ever get used to the taste of. She wasn’t the only one gathered in Idun’s tent for a break, and the other two and Idun nodded their heads empathetically to Auda’s statement.

“Get out where?” Ravi asked, leaning back in her portable fabric chair, propping her chin up on her hand. It wasn’t a market day without one of the planet’s gossiping women making a comment on her single status. “I’m not a homebody, I come to market.”

Idun clucked her tongue at that. “Oh, you know what she means, Ravi,”

Ravi raised her eyebrows, and tilts her head for the benefit of everyone on the other side of her helmet. “Oh, you mean my dating life, of course. How silly of me to assume otherwise.” She laughed and leaned away when Idun swatted at her with an empty produce bag in mock anger.

“You’re not going to stay young forever, young lady. Refusing to take off your helmet is no excuse to not find a lifelong mate.” Auda continued her familiar argument.

“And where will I find someone on this planet, Auda? Any suggestions?”

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’re a beautiful woman—” Ravi inhaled a snort in an attempt to keep it in “—and I have such a beautiful niece who really is looking right now, just cut off her last relationship—”

“With Maril? _No.”_ One of the other ladies gathered gasped, clearly not having heard the news.

“What, you haven’t heard?” Auda leaned close to the crowd that had gathered for the weekly gossip. Ravi rolled her eyes as Idun leaned close to her, her brows pressed together. 

“You know she means well, Ravi.” Ravi gives a small smile as Idun pats at her armored knee, mother-like in her very nature.

“I know,” she replied.

“She’s not wrong, though,” Idun continued, tone thoughtful.

“About me needing to find someone?” Ravi asked, a bit sarcastically.

“Well, sure. But you are a beautiful woman, and I know it whether or not I can see your face.” Idun smiled up kindly into Ravi’s visor, and she felt her throat constrict just a bit. When was the last time someone had given her such a well meaning compliment? She didn’t remember. 

“Thank you, Idun.” Ravi covered Idun’s hand where it still sat on her knee with her own. Idun's smile grew in reply. She turned to look at the position of the star in the sky and heaved a sigh before turning to look at the still chattering group in their tent.

“Alright, everyone, time for us to get back to our stalls,” Idun called out, and a few others checked the time before agreeing to continue the conversation later in the day when the market closed for the week.

-:-

The rest of the market went well, and they sold most of the supplies they had brought, and they’d even had a couple requests for specific produce for the next market, which meant it was a good day in Idun’s book. The star had reached its peak in the sky as everyone started dismantling their tents, and Ravi remembered her promise to buy some candied fruit for Dune.

“Idun,” Ravi caught her attention, loading a stack of crates onto the speeder then wiping her gloves free of the yellow dust that coated the planet. “I’m off to bother Jemtuu, are you okay for a few minutes?” When Idun waved her off carelessly, Ravi half jogged down the market lane, dodging people carrying away any remaining goods they had.

“Jemtuu!” she called, and a spindly man spun around, nearly toppling into a passerby carrying two baskets full of root vegetables. She held up two fingers above the people directing a cart in front of her. “Candied fruit!” He smiled and gave an affirmative hand signal, waving her closer before digging into his cart. She took a step forward once the cart passed and immediately went sprawling into the dirt. Well, she pulled a practiced maneuver that had her landing on her back, perched up on one elbow while her other hand drew her blaster by her hip, but she still landed in the dirt.

And she was currently aiming her very deadly weapon at a very irate child, who couldn’t have been taller than her knee. He mewled angrily, huge black eyes squinting as he picked himself up off the ground. She slowly replaced her blaster, and startled a bit when he looked up at her face, his eyes widened and any anger disappeared with a happy gurgle. He cocked his head, his large pointed ears following and perking up to attention as he considered her.

Ravi moved to stand and frowned when the child put his arms up in the universal sign meaning ‘carry me!’ Sighing, she picked him up and brought him to her face, looking consideringly at the small, green infant. He cooed happily at her, and his little clawed hands tapped at the edges of her helmet.

“Where in the universe did you come from, little one?” She asked aloud, and wasn’t surprised when he continued to murmur happy nonsense at her.

“Who’s the little guy?” Ravi turned to see Jemtuu looking curiously at the little creature, two bags of candied fruit held limply in his grip. Ravi shrugged, tucking the kid in her arm before rummaging around in her belt for payment. She withdrew a couple hand founded coins and pressed them into Jemtuu’s awaiting palm.

“I don’t know, I just tripped over him.” She regarded the child. “Are you lost, little one?” She bopped him on the nose, and he giggled. It pulled a smile from the concerned woman. Ravi looked down to the packages the man held and stretched out a hand to grab them, only to have them snatched from her grip. She looked up to meet Jemtuu’s eyes.

“No, I’ll get these to my mom. You better find his parents,” Ravi nodded and he walked past her to do as he said. She looked back down to the kid, who seemed happy to have her attention back on him. She sighed.

“Well, where are you from, sir? Where are your parents?” She expected the coo in response this time. “Oh, really?” She craned her neck to look around the crowd before noticing Auda in the crowd. If anyone knew who the kid was, it would be her. “I’ve never heard of that planet before. Is it temperate?” She received a gurgle in response, and she smiled down at him. He seemed to sense it, somehow, and he grinned even wider up at her.

The gossip was surrounded with her usual group, but the excitement was much higher than it usually was. “Auda,” Ravi started, pulling the woman’s attention from the group she was with. 

“Ravi, you will _not_ believe it,” the woman gave a dramatic pause, giving room for a response.

“Believe what?” she complied.

“An offworlder arrived, a bounty hunter!” Ravi blinked in surprise, and began considering the logistics of asking to hitch a ride off world even as she nodded her head in response to another pause Auda gave. “And he’s wearing the same armor as you, refusing to take off his helmet.”

Ravi’s heart soared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayo thanks for the response, ya'll, it's been a pleasure :)

Ravi had been very quick to get directions to his location, the only bar and restaurant that stayed open through the whole week. She’d barely paused in her excitement to inform Idun, who had assured her she would be fine and would wait at Jemtuu’s home until Ravi was ready to return. 

It had turned out that Auda _hadn’t_ known who the child was, or in fact who it belonged to, and so the idea solidified in her mind that this was the mandelorian’s child who had wandered off. It was her duty to return the lost child, it was her instinct to reach out to one who had the same beliefs as her, and it was her initiative to ask if she could hitch a ride with him.

It was an easy walk to the cantina, despite it being so soon after the market. This coupled with the buzz of the new visitor (which was practically unheard of. The people of L’Iuun IV still weren’t completely over her appearing out of the sky, and she had been here for six months) should have made it near impossible to walk the streets. It helped that most hadn’t been subjected to her Walk before, where she held her shoulders straight and held her head _just so_ in order to create a commanding and intimidating walk that had her cutting through crowds as if they weren’t there at all. The effect was only stymied by the fact that the small child in her arms waved at the passerby, smiling charmingly in the innocent way only a young could truly manage.

There was a small crowd around the entrance to the cantina, all their gazes so solely focused inside the building that none saw her coming. She slowed to a stop before she reached them, trying to settle her nerves— her excitement. Her first chance off planet, and another mandalorian, at that! She peered over the top of them, trying to catch a glimpse before she burst through. 

“What is he _doing?”_ she heard someone whisper.

“He’s talking to Badim,” came a response, and Ravi wrinkled her brow at that.

“I can see that, but _why?”_ Ravi had the same question.

The man was also an offworlder, though he’d been here for close to a decade, from what Ravi had been told. He was a pretty solitary man, and he’d never talked to Ravi without giving her a feeling that he was desperate to slip away from their conversation, so it surprised her that he was talking to another offworlder. He had been described as polite and reserved, to be fair, and had never really tried to integrate himself into the community.

Ravi cleared her throat, which she knew could be a startling effect through the voice modulator. The group whipped their heads around to look at her, stances frozen.

“Excuse me.” She followed up, and the crowd politely moved to make a path for her. “Thank you.”

She strided in, and immediately her eyes found the other mandalorian. Mostly because the bar was completely empty beyond the mandalorian, the presumed bounty, and the bartender, but also because his armor was beskar. It was easy to note that, as it hadn’t been painted over and was still in it’s shiny, metallic state. Well, it was as shiny as one could expect something metal to be on a planet where the sand was similar to pollen. Still, she was impressed. He was leaning impassively back in his rickety wooden chair, head cocked as he listened to what the stuttering man across from him said. Neither in the conversation looked up as she entered, though the bartender waved her over with a nervous look in his eyes.

She glanced between the bartender and the mandalorian before stalking over to the bar, patting the head of the kid when he made an insistent sound. The bartender leaned over when she approached, bracing himself on the counter with furrowed brows.

“You know that guy?” He gestured, but Ravi didn’t need it to know exactly who he was referring to.

“I’m planning on it,” she responded. The bartender gave a pained sigh.

“Make sure he doesn’t start anything in here, I just got these tables refurbished.” Ravi nodded, glanced down as the kid made another loud instant noise, and turned to see that the mandalorian and Badim were both staring at her. One with a head tilted in curiosity, the other with a pleading gaze. She walked over.

“Is this your little one?” She lifted the kid out of the crook of her arm, pulling him closer to her chest. He gave a delighted squeal and reached for the mandalorian. The other man gave a long suffering sigh and took him from her grasp, setting him down on the table in front of him.

“Yes.” He reached out his hand and they clasped arms in greeting. “Thank you for bringing him to me.” His voice was gruff, but even the few words brought Ravi feeling closer to the idea of home than she had in months. The man looked to his child, but continued speaking to her. “He’s proved to be a bit of an escape artist.” Ravi chuckled lightly.

“No problem.” She glanced at Badim, who was quickly glancing between the three in abject terror. “Need any help with him?” The mandalorian tilted his head at her.

“Trying to cut a deal?” His voice was almost amused. Ravi had gotten good at reading modulated voices over the years. Badim, who flinched, obviously had not.

“Not with your bounty, no. But if this gets violent—” Badim flinched again “—I have been informed to tell you to take it outside.” The mandalorian looked over to the bounty in question, consideringly.

“Is it going to get violent?” His voice was flat. Badim shook his head fervently. “Hmm.” He looked between the kid and Ravi, who still stood above them at the table. “Carry the kid and come with, then. This guy seems flighty.” He flicked a finger over to Badim, who squirmed in his seat. Ravi, for her part, was delighted to be invited.

“Sure.” Ravi nodded and scooped the kid up into her arms, tucking him into her elbow as she had earlier. He cooed at the contact and cuddled into her side, which the other mandalorian watched with a tilted, curious head. The man turned his attention back to Badim and pulled a set of handcuffs out of his belt.

“Coming in cold or warm?” His voice was flat, and Badim slammed both his arms flat on the table, face white in fear.

“Warm it is.”

-:-

His ship was apparently parked on the other side of town, bringing the group down a much similar path that Ravi took from the market. The groups that had been gathered to gossip now starred as they walked past, some peeking out of their doorways to watch them go. A few children chased alongside them at one point, giggling excitedly as the green child in Ravi’s arms waved at them. They scattered, though, when Badim stumbled over the rough pavement and gave a shout of pain when the mandalorian roughly tugged him back to his feet. 

A silence fell over the group as they marched through the streets. If she hadn’t had such a high from finding him, she would find the quiet between them disconcerting. Actually, that wasn’t quite true— she was very disconcerted. She was hesitant to bring anything up that would make him unwilling to assist her. Did he do small talk? Probably not, based off of the silence. He didn’t seem like someone one would exchange stories with over a drink. So… how was she supposed to ask to get off planet with him?

She looked down to the child in her arms, who blinked impassively up at her. He tilted his head. She considered asking the child, just for a moment, but knowing that his answer would be another coo, she simply smiled down on him, scrubbing the fuzz on his head. He was a curious creature, both in personality and appearance. Never had she seen such a being before. She wondered at his species, or his age— or his name, for that matter. The mandalorian hadn’t been forthcoming with that information, and it didn’t appear as if the child itself was in a position to answer her questions.

His weight, on the other hand, though light, was solid. She shifted him to her other arm. Mid juggle, a voice startled her out of thoughts.

“So why are you out here in the middle of nowhere?” His head wasn’t turned towards her, instead looking out to where his ship was now visible, but his voice was very distinct. 

"Well, it wasn't the plan, I'll say that." She mumbled under her breath. Louder, she spoke up again. "Terminal engine failure about six standard months ago. I crash landed about 75 miles west from here, lost my radios." _Please bring it up so I don't have to, please bring it up so—_

"You've been marooned, then." It wasn't a question. The child in her arms blinked up at her.

"Hynd is the largest city on this side of the planet, and I’ve heard it’s twin on the other side has about the same amount of draw from offworlders. So… yes. Marooned.” They’d made it to his ship, and Ravi eyed it critically. It looked like it had been taken apart and reassembled, and a little rough for wear. 

“You seem to know the people.”

“Six months stranded will do that. I’ve been working on a farm about 50 miles from here.”  
“Can your ship be fixed?” He walked up to the control panel, dragging a much more reluctant Badim behind him. He reached up and pressed a code into a keypad, and the ramp began to lower smoothly. Ravi sighed, the sound crackling through her helmet.

“Best guess is no. The frame is bent out of shape, the structural integrity damaged. It’d be better off sold for scraps, to be honest.” It hurt to say it. She’d already salvaged some of the parts off of it to make improvements to farm equipment, but it never got easier to cannibalize her own ship, especially after all the years they’d been together.

With the ramp fully lowered, she leaned over and set the child on the ground. He immediately started toddling up the ramp, trailing yellow footprints behind him. She looked back to the mandalorian before shifting her gaze to Badim, who stood just behind him. Right behind him, actually. He looked anxious, face flushed.

“Well, if you’re looking to get offworld, I can help you with that.” Ravi barely registered his words, reaching for her blaster just as Badim lunged for the armored man. She landed a shot in Badim’s shoulder before he’d even had an opportunity to wrestle the blaster free from the mandalorian’s holster. The mandalorian betrayed no surprise and simply stepped aside, moving away from the man as he sobbed in pain, clutching at his shoulder as he rolled in the dirt. The two looked down on him, and her counterpart heaved a sigh.

“I’d appreciate that.” She said, finally understanding the words he’d spoken earlier. “Where’re you heading?” She kicked a foot in a gesture to the man still sprawled in the dirt.

“Antullio.” Her head shot up to look at him. Was he serious? He didn’t seem like the man to joke much.

“I am, too, funnily enough.” She kept her voice calm and impassive, though her heart was beating fast in excitement. “If you’re looking for a place to stay the night, though, maybe restock, I’ve been working with a couple locals. They know our culture and have extra beds. And I’d like to collect some of the things from my ship. You can see if there’s anything you can salvage from it, if you like.”

An excited gurgled shout from the gangplank had both mandalorians looking up. The child stood at the top of the ramp, large smile on his face. Ravi smiled back. The three ignored the continued groaned pains from Badim.

She stretched out her hand. “Ravi Baisky.” The man took it, grasping her arm.

“Din Djarin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my first fic I've published since high school. Actually, my first fanfiction I've written since high school, too. I wasn't going to post an update so soon, but I've been doing nothing but writing the past few days, never mind the fact that it's finals week for me. Feedback is much appreciated, if I don't know what's up I'm sure someone will. 
> 
> I have a goal: the longest piece of writing I've ever done is about 29,000 words. Not very impressive, I know, especially considering the length of some fics I've read. But my goal is to beat that number, and I'm already past half way, so I'm hoping that I'll reach that number. It's been a long time since I've been so passionately focused on a piece of writing, so I'm going to do my best to keep that passion up and actually finish this. 
> 
> Again, thanks for the support! There's some longer chapters coming up!


	3. Chapter 3

  
  


“I can’t believe he has a cryo chamber on his ship,” she muttered to herself as she led the way to Jemtuu’s house. Ravi shook her head— her mother had been a bounty hunter for  _ years  _ and they could never dream to afford a cryo chamber.

“You didn’t have one?” ‘Didn’t.’ Past tense. Still hurt. She looked over her shoulder to look at Djarin, who was taking his turn toting the small kid around. His hearing adapters must have been up. Ravi scowled under her helmet.

“No. Would have made life a lot easier if I had.”

“How’d you make them shut up?” Ravi pursed her lips and stopped at Jemtuu’s door. She gave it three hard taps, and the squealing of children sounded from inside.

“Tranquilizer.” She answered honestly, and was a little delighted when he responded with a huffed laugh. It was true though, if a bit exaggerated. Most of the time they’d used gags, and that seemed to quiet them eventually. The more tenacious ones, though, always got a tranquilizer in their shoulder before they could get violent.

A small girl opened the door, four eyes blinking curiously out. She grinned and Ravi leaned down to swoop her up into her arms, the small girl squealing in delight. Ravi perched the girl on her hip, smiling fondly as she pushed the door further open. 

“Hello, Nan.” She peered over Ravi’s shoulder at Djarin before shyly ducking her head. “These are my new friends, can you say hi?” Nan shook her head, and Ravi laughed. She looked at Djarin. “This is Nan. Come on in.” She led the way in, ducking around the several children that raced around the entrance, keeping a tight grip on Nan as she made her way to where she heard Idun’s voice. 

“Idun,” she called out, stepping into the kitchen, and the conversation halted. A small party had gathered, containing Idun, Jemtuu, Jemtuu’s wife and Nan’s mother, Allain, and two of Idun and Dane’s other children, Jull and Iaan. That explained the sheer amount of children, then.

“Ravi, you’re back!” Idun stood, four eyes looking her over with concern. Nan reached for her mother, who took her into her arms, and Idun immediately took Ravi’s hands into her own. “We heard that Badim had been arrested, and—” Idun glanced over Ravi’s shoulder, voice becoming stuck. Ravi turned to see that Djarin had entered the kitchen, the group of children staring him and his child down with nothing short of wonderment.

“Are you Ravi’s husband?” Lain, Jemtuu’s oldest, asked bravely, and Ravi’s eyes widened behind her helmet.

“No.” His voice was even, but the set of his shoulders were stiff.

“But you’re wearing the same armor!” Lain argued back.

“This is my new friend, Mando,” Ravi interrupted. “And his child.” They hadn’t had a conversation on the use of their names, but her mother had taught her that unless she’d been given permission, she wasn’t free to share another mandalorian’s name. Ravi looked back to Idun. “They’re going to take me off planet.” Idun looked taken aback. A moment of silence stretched just a little too long. She could see Jemtuu and his siblings exchanging looks from the corner of her eye. 

“You will be missed,” Idun said eventually, gripping her hands tighter. Ravi swallowed dryly, feeling her eyes well up with tears.

“Thank you. We were hoping that they could spend the night.”

“You leave tomorrow? So soon?” Ravi brought Idun into her arms.

“You know why I have to go,” she whispered, and felt Idun nod into her shoulder. The older woman sniffled and stood back, gathering herself. She brought her hands up to rest on Ravi’s shoulders.

“Well, we’d best be going then, so you can gather your things.”

-:-

Ravi exchanged hugs with Jemtuu, his siblings that she’d grown to be friends with, and all the children. Nan was especially teary eyed, and went sobbing into Jemtuu’s arms when Ravi, Idun, Djarin, and his child loaded up onto the cargo speeder parked in the back.

The ride back was quiet.

The colors of the moons above became brighter as the star began to set on the horizon, casting the world in a pink hue. The stars and the moon base twinkled above as sand spit off the windshield. 

Darkness was truly starting to set in as Ravi pulled the speeder to a stop beside the farm house. Dane was sitting in the rocking chair on the porch, but stood as they approached, walking down to help Idun out of the vehicle. He watched as Djarin and his child stepped out of the back.

“You found another one, did you?” He asked his wife in good humor, who slapped his shoulder at his tease. He looked between the two mandalorians, sparing a glance for the child that had fallen asleep in Djarin’s arms. “Hmm. Appears we have a matching set. Come in, then,” he started leading Idun up the steps to the house, idly waving at the speeder. “We’ll take care of that in the morning.”

“We’ve got a couple rules, Mando, I hope you don’t mind,” Idun started as they walked into the dimly lit house. A fire was burning in the corner, where a pot of delicious smelling stew was simering. 

“Of course,” came the modulated reply. 

Ravi, who was already familiar with the rules, sat in one of the couples plush chairs and began untying her boots, setting them near the fireplace. She felt Djarin’s gaze on her as she started to remove her vambraces.

“No armor. I know your culture as well as an outsider might, so we’ll respect your helmet. But this is a peaceful house, so no blasters, no weapons lying about.” Ravi sighed, sitting up in her chair and twisting to look at Idun, who was getting bowls out of the cupboard.

“Leave him alone, Idun, it’s only for the night.” The child cooed, evidently having woken from his sleep.

Dane tutted, shaking his head, and reached for the child. Djarin looked to Ravi, who nodded, and the man allowed Dane to take him from his grasp. “It’s been many years since one this young has graced these halls.” Ravi rolled her eyes.

“Your grandchildren visit every other week,” Idun argued. Ravi stood and picked up her discarded armor as she did so. She left her pauldrons and breast plate on.

“Does this little one have a name?” Dane asked, ignoring her remark with the ease of a practiced father and grandfather. The ears of the kid flicked curiously as he peered up at Dane. Ravi looked to Djarin, curious herself.

“No.” His reply was flat.

Idun stopped and turned to face him, surprise on her face.

“What do you mean he doesn’t have a name? He’s your child, did you not name him?” Idun asked, tilting her head at the man. Djarin shifted on his feet.

“He’s not mine. I’m just looking after him. If he has a name, I don’t know it.” Idun pursed her lips at his reply before seeming to shrug it off.

“He can have Iaan’s room, Ravi,” Idun said, changing the subject. She leaned over her husband’s shoulder to look at the child. Ravi looked to Djarin.

“Dinner will be ready in half an hour,” Dane said as she began to guide Djarin out of the room, and Ravi made an affirmative sound.

“Follow me.” She guided him down the hall, pushing open a door at the end of it. She flicked a light panel, and the lamps placed in the room lit it with a warm light. She pointed at a door within the room. “That’s the refresher, though I don’t think there’s any towels in there. I’ll get you some.” She walked out of the room and opened a cabinet down the hall, continuing to speak as she did so. “There’s some children's clothes stocked up around here somewhere, if you need a change of clothes for your little one.” She handed him a couple towels, juggling her armor in her other hand. “I’m sure if you look in the dresser you could find something that would fit you too, if you like.”

“Thank you,” he said, accepting the towels. He looked at her for a moment. “You’re very familiar here.” 

“Well… it was this or keep eating sand marmans alone at my ship. This option suited me better.” He tilted his head at her, consideringly.

“Sand marmans?”

“Rodents, about a foot long. Terror to catch, their taste  _ almost  _ makes up for it.” He hummed thoughtfully. A beat of silence passed between them. Ravi fiddled with a buckle on one of her removed vambraces. She pursed her lips.

“And don’t worry about your armor, or the weapons. It took a while for them to convince me to leave them in my room, even while I was still in the house.” He nodded, and there was another beat of silence. She continued. “Will your child eat with you?”

“No,” he shook his head, “he can eat with them.” Ravi nodded.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it, then. Their water recyclers are high functioning, so don’t worry about waste, take as long as you need.” She nodded at him before spinning on the spot and starting to her own room, which had once belonged to Jull.

The house was large and spacious, considering the houses that were in Hynd. It was older than both Dane and Idun combined, and more than that, and was almost completely additions at this point. The floors creaked under her socked feet as she walked into her room, shutting the door behind her. She placed her removed armor pieces on her nightstand table before sitting heavily on the bed.

Normally she didn’t spend the night here. She spent her nights on her ramshackle ship, her sleeping quarters still in decent shape. She found it good to have a sense of normalcy, just being in her familiar room even if the hum from the engine was gone, even if there were more creaks than she was used to. Over the months, though, she’d been convinced to stay over more and more often as the nights they spent together got later, or the family was over, or they needed to start early in the morning.

She stood and unbuckled the rest of her armor, making sure the door was locked before she pulled off her helmet for the first time that day. Her gloves came off next, hands spotted in the yellow dust despite the protection. She rubbed at the spots briefly before wandering into her own fresher. She stood in front of the polished mirror as she undid her braid of hair that curled around the top of her head, setting aside the pins on the counter. She ran her fingers through the red of her hair, combing out the kinks and knots that had gathered over the day. She looked in the mirror, finding the length of her hair in her reflection. It fell to her waist in the waves the braids provided. She sighed, picking up the ragged ends to examine them.

“I could use a trim…” she muttered to herself before dropping the strand. She shucked off her jumpsuit and started the flow of water in the shower before she tugged off her breast band and under shorts. When the water was warm, she stepped into the spray. She sighed again.

She would miss this water pressure when she left.

She would miss other things too, of course, but this water pressure…

After using the last of her soap (and realising that she had forgotten to get more in all of the excitement today) and getting off every speck of yellow, she stepped out and towled herself off. She dried her hair as best she could before braiding it back up again, knowing she could let it dry as she slept.

She’d just finished pulling on a clean jumpsuit when a knock sounded on her door. She quickly put on her helmet, the familiar hiss of pressurization filling her ears as she did so. She tugged on her gloves before she opened the door.

“Dinner delivery,” Dane stood in front of her with a tray of food: a still steaming bread roll, the thick stew, and a glass of milk. She took the tray with a smile.

“Thank you,” she said warmly, and he nodded, leaning against the doorframe as she moved around the bed to set the food on a table. She looked up at him.

“You’re really leaving us, huh?” Ravi swallowed thickly, glancing over at the dresser drawer where she stored her holo record before looking back to Dane.

“Yeah. I’ve gotta.” Dane gave a half smile and nodded, moving forward to rap at her helmet with his knuckles. 

“I know. You better come back and visit, though. You’re missing the wet season.” She grinned and gave a laugh.

“I will.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. I can’t ever repay you.” He shrugged.

“Just remember you’ve got us in this corner of the galaxy.” Teary eyed, she leaned over and gave him a hug. He returned it for a moment before patting her back twice and releasing her with a “Bah.”

“Eat your dinner,” he said, and she thanked him again as she closed and locked the door.

-:-

Idun and Dane didn’t have much of a lawn, or an area to lounge comfortably outside, beyond their rocking chairs. They weren’t really the people for it, and a lawn would have been an actual waste of water, for appearances no one was around to see, anyway. So she took an old stained blanket, another to wrap around herself, and laid under the stars that had become so familiar to her over her months here.

The outside lights were off, and so were all the lights from the bedrooms, so the stars were particularly bright. She’d been on planets where the light pollution was so bad that no constellations could even be seen planetside. Confident that everyone was asleep at the late hour, she’d pulled off her helmet and placed it by her side. Just her and the stars on this back hole planet in a forgotten corner of the galaxy.

She sighed and looked down to her lap, where she was fiddling with the edge of her holo record. Her now dry hair curled lightly in the breeze, and she pulled it back as she pressed the activation button on it. She had the entire thing memorized, she could recite it by heart.

_ “Ravi!”  _ A red headed young teenager pushed herself up close into the frame, so close that for a moment her freckles were clearly visible.

_ “Move, Manny, you’re taking up all the screen!”  _ The redhead, Manny, sat back and revealed an older brunette. Anya.

Ravi watched fondly as the two continued their bickering for a few seconds.

_ “Okay, ready,”  _ Manny looked at her friend, who nodded. Together, they counted up. _ “1, 2, 3— happy birthday, Ravi!”  _ They shouted, throwing their hands up in excitement.

_ “As your sister,”  _ Manny pushed herself closer to the recorder, grin wide and happy,  _ “it is my duty to tell you that you’re fraggin’ old—”  _ she laughed as Anya slapped her arm.

_ “And as not your sister but your friend,”  _ Anya shoved Manny aside, who fell giggling.  _ “I have to tell you that you look no older than 22 in all your helmeted glory.” _

Ravi laughed tearily. 

_ “32, Ravi. You’re really pushing it,”  _ Manny said, mock seriously, shit-eating grin firm in place. 

_ “You’re one to talk, you’re almost 14! Practically old age!”  _ Anya laughed, smiling when Manny grinned with her. Manny turned to look at the camera, her hair whipping across her freckled shoulders.

_ “Ravi, this isn’t just a happy birthday, it’s also a threat to come home for my birthday.”  _ Manny picked the camera up in her hands, bringing the image close.  _ “Because I love you, and I miss you, and you’re my favorite person in the whole universe.”  _

_ “Petta and Vayne miss you too!” _ Anya said off screen— her two children. The recording picked up the slamming of a door in the background.  _ “Your dad’s coming.”  _ Anya whispered, and Manny looked back into the camera, panic clear.

_ “Shit, okay!”  _ She looked back to the camera, bringing back a smile that was obviously forced. _ “I love you! Be safe! Happy birthday!”  _

And with that, the recording shut off, the holo flickering as the light faded away.

This was the last message she’d received from her sister before she’d crashed. She’d only been gone a week, at the most. Holos were expensive, and she knew her sister couldn’t afford to send even a voice recording in the best times. She was only supposed to be gone a month at the most, and here she was, pushing seven months gone from home. Seven months, and that was the last she heard, and with an ending like that… She was 14 now. Amanda Baisky, 14. Ravi could remember her first steps, her first word…

But now Djarin was here. Djarin, who had  _ offered  _ to take her off planet, coincidentally to the one planet she needed to go to the most. Djarin, the first off worlder in months who had a ship that could fly space, and who also shared her beliefs and religion.

Things were starting to look up.

She pressed the activation button again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo, thanks for your interest?? I hit 100 hits, which objectively I know isn't that much, but I never expected this to even garner that much attention, so thanks for that :) I'm well on my way to accomplishing my writing goal, too-- only 3000 words away! I want to get a good back log of chapters before posting more reguarly, just because I'm the kind of person to think of a detail after I've written something then go back through and write it in. In any case, thanks for the attention, I'd love to know your thoughts, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!!


	4. Chapter 4

  
  


Not for the first time, Ravi was glad for her helmet. It protected her from UV rays. It made it really painful for anyone who tried to punch her in the face. She could make faces at people she didn’t much like. And it also hid any signs of exhaustion from staying up too late at night, instead of sleeping. 

She woke at her usual time, right as the star was rising and therefore shining in her face through the window, but she was slow to rise out of bed, and slower to pull on her armor. Soon she was awake enough to remember what the day would bring, and she walked into the kitchen, where Idun was already standing, prepping a meal. Ravi grabbed a couple leftover rolls from the night previous, leaning around Idun to accomplish this. A squak had her looking down to meet the curious eyes of the green kid. She handed him a roll with a smile before backing away towards the door.

“Where are you going with that?” The woman asked as Ravi headed towards the door. 

“I’m going to check over the speeder. I told Mando that he could salvage any parts he needed from my ship, so I want to calibrate the balance for the heavy load.”

“Dane’s out with the birds, so you’re good to eat that outside. Quickly, though, I haven't seen your Mando yet, but his child is wandering about.” 

“Thanks!” She pulled the door shut behind her, bouncing over to the speeder, ready to start her day. She scarfed down the roll once she’d checked for people around her before pulling open the hood to the speeder to check it over. 

It wasn’t long before she found herself underneath the vehicle, the speeder propped up on slats while she wheeled around underneath on a little board. The farm produce was heavy, sure, but ship parts could be heavier, depending on what Djarin needed, or wanted, for that matter. 

“What are you doing?” Speak of the man. 

“Well, I offered to let you take what could be salvaged from my ship for yours,” she paused, tightening a bolt back into place. “And since I don’t know how much you’ll need, I’m making sure the speeder can handle the load.” There was a pause of thoughtful silence on his end. On her end she was concentrating on not spilling oil all over her last clean jumpsuit.

“Are you a mechanic?”

“I know a thing or two,” she replied, her mind focused on her task. She tightened the last bolt. “There!” She wheeled herself out and sat up, looking up at Djarin. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” he replied, watching as she forewent the door and simply vaulted into the front seat of the speeder. She pressed the ignition and it started easily. She pressed a few buttons to see the load that it could carry. Half a ton higher than before she started, excellent.

She pointed at the screen and looked over at Djarin to share her accomplishment. “I had to readjust the repulsorlifts individually, but it can carry about three tons, now.” He tilted his head at her.

“Impressive.” She beamed under her helmet, another reason to be thankful for it.

“Thank you.”

“How much do you think is salvageable?” She tilted her own head in thought.

“A fair amount. We can strip the engine for it’s core parts, if we wanted, and sell those individually, or keep them around for repairs. They’re pretty new. Any bits and bobs you’re missing I probably have.” He nodded at her.

“Are Dane and Idun coming?” Ravi shook her head.

“They can’t, farm work.” She stepped out of the speeder, using the door this time. “I’ll get some tools, we’ll leave soon.”

-:-

The three left soon after that, waving behind to Idun who sent them off with a basket of lunch. The star was higher in the sky, lighting the familiar path Ravi took almost daily to her shipwreck. The child’s ears flapped behind him with the force of the wind, eyes half squinted, but he still looked around to take the environment in. Conversation was nonexistent, as it always was in the cargo speeder, but it didn’t bother her as much as she was bothered by it yesterday. She was making lists in her mind of what she needed to collect, what she could strip to get money from, parts that would be useful, if needed, for Djarin’s ship.

15 standard minutes later she pulled the speeder to a stop in front of her ship. The set up of her semipermanent camp suited her fine when it was just her, but she was a bit nervous to let a stranger into her space, mandalorian or not.

Her ship’s ramp was down, dust collecting and brushing up onto it, where little sand marman footprints were clearly visible. This she was used to, there being no way to lift and lower the ramp when she needed it. The remains of a fire she’d had a few nights ago were scattered, rooted through for any dropped and burnt food by the same creature she’d been cooking. She sighed, kicking at the charcoal, before turning and spreading her arms wide.

“Welcome to the Whistler, the love of my life and bane of my very existence.” 

The child wiggled out of Djarin’s grasp, plodding happily through the messy remains of the campsite and up the ramp to explore the inside.

“Whistler?” The man asked, following his child inside.

“She whistled when she was in hyperspace. Nothing wrong, specs all came up clean. Just a curious quirk.” Ravi followed them up into her ship, reaching into a cabinet to grab a couple cloth bags for her things. Djarin was looking around her ship, and she saw him raise a hand to the intricately painted metal ceiling. Ravi followed his gaze, tracing her eyes over the familiar patterns of swirls and flowers painted by a careful hand.

“My mother did that,” she answered his unasked question. “The Whistler was hers, I inherited it from her. She painted in the downtime between planets.” She walked over to her weapons cabinet and started pulling off the sheathed daggers and placing the blasters in a carrying case, sliding them into her bag. “Sometimes the smell would be so bad we’d have to make planet fall just to escape it.” There was a beat of silence, which seemed to be common around Djarin. It was filled only by the curious mutterings of the child and the sound of Ravi packing her weapons.

“Your armor is red.” He spoke up eventually, suggesting a line of conversation she didn’t much want to get into. She didn’t turn to look at him, fiddling with a seam on her gloves.

“My armor was hers, too. She told me once, what armor colors meant, and when she passed, I painted her armor red. I wear it for her.” She looked blankly at the knife she held in her hand before clearing her throat, turning her helmet to look at Djarin through her visor. “Feel free to explore. Take what you need. I’m going to collect my things.” She brushed past him and stalked into her room, closing the door manually behind her.

It’d been a long time since she’d really thought about her mother. It had been a longer time since she’d seen another mandalorian.

Ravi knew that her upbringing wasn’t exactly… traditional, by mandalorian or non-mandalorian standards. Her father wasn’t mandalorian, but her mother was. She supposed there was love between them at one point, given their two fully related children, but Ravi had never seen them speak without it turning into an argument. It was another miracle that the two even managed to create another child when Ravi was 18, given how separately she was raised by the both of them. Fatherly visits, mostly, with the majority of time spent with her mother. It was the opposite for Amanda, who spent most of her time with their father and as such didn’t wear a helmet.

But when her mother passed, despite her lack of a relationship with Ravi’s father and Amanda, it was still a large hit to the non traditional family. 

Ravi gripped the side of the door, staring off into nothing. She missed her mother.

And Amanda had gone most of her life without her, so Ravi had stepped up to do the motherly tasks the teenager was missing. Amanda was only four, Ravi 22, when it happened. Ravi missed her sister, too.

She blinked as a screech of metal sounded outside her room, followed by the child giggling. Coming back to herself, she started rolling up what few clothes she stored in her room, rolling up some of the more delicate weapons in the cloth. She took down the couple photos she had hanging, one of her and her mother, both helmeted, and the other with her sister and friend Anya. She tossed her store of credits in the bag and glanced around her room before deciding to roll up one of her blankets, too. She’d always gotten cold in hyperspace.

As for the rest, she left them. They were all replaceable, and she’d rather travel light for the time being. She didn’t know what the situation was like on Antullio, and she likely wouldn’t know until she arrived there, anyway. 

Satisfied, she left the room to head to the cockpit, but she heard additional clanking echoing out of her fresher. Intrigued, she walked over and stuck her head in, raising her eyebrows at the sight. Djarin seemed to be breaking down the wall of the shower, bending back the metal sheet to reach something behind it. The child was sitting and watching, giggling as his father growled something, presumably a curse word, in another language. She grinned, leaning against the wall at the sight. The child caught sight of her and cooed in her direction, which had Djarin looking up from his task.

“Don’t mind me. Just enjoying the view.” It was through her intuition only that she knew his eyes narrowed at her. She waved off anything that he might have provided as a reply and left the room to head for the cockpit, seeing if there was anything she needed to collect there.

The cockpit was left most untouched, both by her and the marmans. She didn’t exactly need the control panel on an unpowered ship, and she never had anything edible in here that would attract the small beasts, anyway. As such, the room was perhaps more clean and orderly than she would normally keep it, boredom having led to cleanliness soon after she crashed. The light in the room was a reprieve from the brightness outside, the glass covered in a thin layer of sand that had gathered through windstorms.

Ravi stepped in, resting a hand on the head rest of her pilot’s chair as she glanced around the room where she had spent so much time. Feeling reminiscent, she moved to sit in her chair, running her hands over her control panel. It was one of the few areas that her mother hadn’t painted, instead leaving it clean and easy to read while she trained Ravi to fly it. She leaned forward to press her fingers against the ignition button, which bore the only mark her mother left in the cockpit: “press here to start.” A half grin grew on her face. It was easy to get lost in the memories she had had here.

A coo distracted her from behind, though, and she turned to see the small child climbing onto the copilot’s chair. She turned in her seat to watch him struggle to climbup, reminiscing grin turning into something more genuine when he finally made it up.

“Got bored of watching your dad, huh?” Instead of giving any response, he looked past her, and she turned to try and see what he was looking at. “What?” With a clawed finger, he pointed, and she followed it to find the object of his attention, her control stick. “My control stick? What about it?” Her brows furrowed when he made an instant noise, continuing to point at it. Confused at what exactly he wanted, she reached for the stick, unscrewing the ball from the top of it. He seemed pleased with this notion, and grasped for it eagerly as she started to hand it over to him. Ravi laughed as he chittered at the ball, turning it in his hands as he examined it. 

“That’s what you wanted then, huh?” Ravi smiled. He looked up and chirped something in response before blinking rapidly, bringing a tiny hand up to rub at his eyes, lowering the ball in his other grip but still grasping at it tightly. 

“Do you have something in your eyes?” She leaned forward to look him over, taking the lock off her chair so she could spin it around and lean closer. She stretched out a hand, and when the kid didn’t move away from her, she gently tilted his head to catch what light was available. 

“Hmm.” She leaned back as he brought the collar of his little robe up to rub at his eyes. “Maybe you need your own pair of goggles,” she thought aloud, beginning to glance around the room. “Hold on, I think I have some old ones around here somewhere.” She stood and started rummaging through the cabinets at the back of the room while he watched her curiously. “Aha!” She kneeled at the base of the copilot chair with her quarry in hand.

“These were my sisters,” she started, showing the child sized goggles off. They were simple, just a strip of leather with two tinted green glass lenses to protect the eyes, but he seemed pretty taken with them, running his hand over them. “She grew out of them a few years ago, and I just never got rid of them, I suppose.” Ravi pulled it on over his head, carefully tucking his ears beneath the straps to wrap the leather around his head. “They won’t fit exactly, because they were made with a human in mind, not someone with such big eyes or long ears.” He babbled something excitedly, tapping on the glass with his fingers as he looked up at her with a smile. “Yeah, there you go. Very handsome.”

“That’s a good look,” Ravi and the child looked up to see Djarin standing in the doorway, gloves covered in dark oil with a wrench held loosely in one grip.

“Did you get what you need from the fresher?” She leaned back and used the edge of the pilot’s chair to help her stand.

“Stole the water heater. The one on my ship hasn’t worked for years.” She tilted her head at him.

“That’ll be nice, then.” She reached down to the child and picked him up and set him back down on the floor. He immediately walked over to his father, who looked down at him. The child tapped on his goggles and lifted up his steering grip proudly, clearly showing off his new acquisitions. 

“Very nice,” Djarin complimented, and Ravi held in her laugh. He looked over to her. “I was going to start stripping your engine for extra parts.” She nodded.

“I’ve got a few more things to gather, but I’ll be there soon to help.” He gave his own nod in return before turning and walking back down the hall.

-:-

In what felt like a few minutes, but in actuality had been a few hours with the star beginning to drag down to the horizon, the trio was packing up to head back to Djarin’s ship. Razor Crest, she’d been told. Idun and Dane had both driven them up in the cargo speeder, and there was a small crowd of people gathering around the outside of the Crest, wanting to send her off. They’d taken less supplies from the Whistler than she’d assumed they would, and they were loaded into the cargo hold efficiently. 

Ravi ran her gloved fingers along the edge of a cut metal square in her pocket as she approached Idun and Dane for her final goodbyes. As they were finishing up at the Whistler, she’d dug out a half working plasma cutter and cut away the piece of metal with her mother’s hand writing, not daring to take anything bigger or heavier from the ship.

Her eyes didn’t remain dry long, and it was another reason she was grateful for the helmet.

Dane reached out and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her up tightly. He gave his customary two pats before pulling back, and left his hand on her shoulder as Idun followed suit and dragged Ravi into her own hug. She could feel tears coursing down her cheeks as Idun stepped back, pooling where her helmet seal met her neck. Idun placed her hand on the side of Ravi’s helmet, where her cheek would be. She tilted her head to lean into Idun’s palm.

“I don’t think I could ever thank you enough.” Dane scoffed tearily, and a smile pulled at Idun’s lips.

“You’ve got us in your corner, dear,” Dane rubbed at her shoulder, speaking emphatically. Idun ran a hand over the top of her helmet, which Ravi heard rather than felt.

“And don’t forget, dear. You’re beautiful, helmet or no.” Ravi nodded, and almost in sync, Idun and Dane stepped away from her, wrapping an arm around the other’s waist. “Better get going dear,” Idun began again, lips turning up in a grin, nodding her head towards the ship. “Your man is waiting for you.” Ravi scoffed a laugh, shaking her head as she took a step backwards, not looking towards Djarin.

“It was a pleasure to have known you.” She inclined her head deeply, which the couple returned. With this, Ravi finally turned away from them, walking up the ramp of the Razor Crest to meet Djarin and his child at the top. The mandalorian punched a button towards the side, and the ramp started raising, all while Ravi waved at the crowd outside. The three stood in silence for a few seconds, Ravi staring at the closed ramp.

Djarin shifted on his feet.

“Let’s head up.” 

She followed him quietly up the ladder to the cockpit, sitting in the copilot chair. The child looked a bit put out at this, and she brought him into her lap so his father could steer.

She closed her eyes at the familiar sounds of starting up a space bearing ship. The engine started with a press of a button and a rumble. She opened her eyes again when there was a noticeable pause, only to see Djarin looking back at her. 

“Ready?”

She nodded. “Ready.”

They launched.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I wasn't going to update, but I beat my goal! This is officially the longest project I have ever worked on, currently at 36,000 words. This is QUITE the achievement for me, especially because I'm still so interested in writing this! SO, we've got that going for us, ya'll. But as a celebration, I thought I'd post a chapter. Thanks for all the kudos, ya'll! Let me know your thoughts! Happy holidays!!!


	5. Chapter 5

She was sitting on the edge of her little cubby nook that Djarin had shown her after they launched into hyperspace to Antullio. It was comfortable with enough space for her to stretch out, and had a little locking mechanism on it to keep away little curious alien hands. It was also freezing, and not for the first time Ravi wondered if his water heater was the only heater broken on the Razor Crest. 

As it was, she was cuddled up in the extra blanket she'd brought, wearing extra layers on top of her jumpsuit, trying to keep her hands warm as she methodically cleaned, shined, and sharpened all the weapons she'd brought with her. She'd let their care fall to the wayside during her time on L'Iuun IV, having no need to carry more than a couple weapons at a time (even then, it was proven to be an unnecessary practice, but still). Djarin had gone to bed hours ago in his own little nook, leaving Ravi to source her own entertainment. She'd tried sleep already, but the noises of this ship were as familiar as they were unfamiliar, her memories just out of sync from what she knew.

The methodical sharpening of knives, the gentle  _ shink  _ of metal on the sharpening block Djarin had lent her, those were familiar. It was a calming balm to her mind. Too many thoughts rushed through— where was her sister? Probably fine, in the exact same health Ravi had left her in, but still, the thought that something had happened persisted, pressing to the forefront. Something had happened, and nothing good, but—

Her head shot up to see the child walk around the corner, looking at her curiously.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" He said nothing, instead coming up to her to examine the knife she held in her hand. It was a practical blade, with little decoration beyond the engraved hilt. She'd tried to translate the language there, but she couldn't find any text resembling it. She lowered the knife to show him, keeping it just out of his reach.

"This was my first blade. My mother gave it to me when I turned 15." He reached for it, but she pulled it back. "No, not for little ones. Maybe when you get bigger your father will teach you."

He made an annoyed noise, looking up at her with narrowed eyes with a huff. She gave her own huff, though in amusement.

"Still no, little one." She sheathed it then placed it back by her pillow at the other end of the nook, far out of reach from little reaching hands. Once it had been hidden away, she leaned down to pick the child up, leaning her back on one of the walls and bringing her unbooted feet up onto the bed. She sat him on her lap, wrapping the edges of her blanket around him. He picked up the edge, rubbing the soft fabric against his cheek with a coo. Ravi smiled and ran a hand over his head.

"Soft, isn't it? I stole it from— you know, I can't actually remember. Hmm. I should have stolen more, though, it's my favorite blanket." He burbled something in response, and she nodded seriously in reply before tilting her head at him.

"What are you doing up, anyway?" She lightly tugged at one of his ears and he giggled, brushing her hand away with one of his own. "I know for a fact your father put you to bed." Ravi had heard Djarin giving the little one a bedtime story in the other room, a rhythmic sort in a language she didn’t know. It was calming, in any case. The child didn't respond. 

"Can't sleep, then? That's okay, I'm having a hard time, too." She propped her knees up more and gently arranged him to lean back against her upper thighs. She had taken off her armor once Djarin had announced he was going to rest, and she figured his little one was comfortable resting on her when he snuggled into her. He brought his corner of the blanket up to his chin. Ravi smiled and tucked him in further, much to his apparent enjoyment.

“How about a song, huh?” He blinked up at her, which she took as his agreement. She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve sung someone to sleep— I don’t really know any lullabies, anymore. There was one my mother used to sing to me, though…” She ran her fingers along his head, brushing through his thin hair as she began to hum. His eyes fluttered shut as she continued the song, singing the words that came more like second nature and less like something she was trying to remember. It wasn’t long until his breathing deepened and he dropped into sleep. When she finished her song, she gently scooped him up and stood, wincing as her the cold of the floor bit through her socks. He was still gently snoring when she laid him back down in his hammock, cocooning him in his small pile of blankets.

She returned to her own bed, sliding the hatch shut behind her. She took off her helmet and set it in the corner of the nook before lying down and blinking into the darkness. Eventually sleep dragged her down.

-:-

“The heating element is broken,” Djarin said, jarring her out of her thoughts. She glanced up at him before looking back to the heating element in question. She’d been twisting the knobs and pressing buttons for the last minute, wondering if there was some strange lock on it to prevent the child from getting burned. 

“I can see that.” Abandoning the effort of trying to turn it on, she turned to face him fully, leaning against the galley counter. It was a small room, and the two mandalorians seemed to fill it up to capacity. “What do you do to warm up food, then?” In response he dug into a cabinet, drawing out three protein portions.

“We eat it cold.” He tossed her a pack, and she caught it. She turned it over in her hands, scanning over the package. She gave him a look of disbelief.

“That’s very sad.” She said frankly, and he shrugged. Ravi sighed, pointing to the heating element. “I’m fixing this,” she told him, tone brokering no argument. He shrugged again, moving to leave the room.

“Good luck.” With that he left, Ravi rolling her eyes at his back. No wonder everything in this ship was cold, he didn’t care if anything was  _ warm.  _

She knelt down and pulled open the cabinets, trying to see if there was anything on the underside that would prevent it from turning on. Half way underneath it, with the lower half of her body lying on the galley floor, she reached into her belt and withdrew a multi-tool. She unscrewed the bottom of the heating element, using her helmet flashlight to look at the wires underneath. She brushed a gloved hand against the wires, pushing some of them aside. It looked like it was just—

The sounds of chewing interrupted her thoughts, and she craned her head to see the child standing outside the cabinet, pack of dried protein in hand. She raised an eyebrow.

“Are you bored? Am I your new source of entertainment?” Ravi asked the child sarcastically, and in reply he stuffed another piece of jerky in his mouth. She sighed, looking back to the wiring. 

“Well, I suppose it’ll be nice to have the company, in any case. Come here, I’ll show you what I’m doing.” She gestured him over, and he climbed up into the cabinet as she asked, peering up at the wiring where her light was pointing.

“See these wires, here?” She pointed to a few sections of wire, where the plastic coating had melted away and fused together into a waxy mess. “Someone used the wrong type of wires when they were repairing this. They were supposed to use heat resistant ones, but because they didn’t, they all melded together. You see?” She looked over to the child, who stood right by her shoulder. He made a noise. “That’s right. So what we’re going to do is take some of the wiring that we took from my ship and replace this with it, then we’ll trouble shoot from there. Yeah?” He chirped affirmatively, and she grinned at him. “Alright, let’s get to it.”

He was a good work partner, if only because he seemed enthralled by any progression the pair made. The heating element turned on, the lights flashing? Excited gurgle. The coding quickly edited, to make it actually heat up? A grin. A cup of warm milk presented to him in a mug that might have, perhaps, been a bit too large? Clapping followed by the satisfied look of someone drinking something warm that hit the spot. She felt very appreciated, if nothing else. 

Ravi grinned when he pulled the mug away from his lips, drink finished, a foamy milk mustache on his upper lip. “Very nice.” She took his mug and rinsed it off, leaving it in the sink to dry. “Come on,” she leaned over to pick him up when he put his arms up, “let’s go sort through the supplies we brought and see what else we can fix around here.”

-:-

If Ravi was being pressed, she would say it was because she was trying to show her thanks. She would have been stranded on that planet, good people notwithstanding, for who knows how long if Djarin had refused to take her with him. Or worse, if he’d never accepted the bounty in the first place. If he were to simply ask her why she was doing it, she would say that she couldn’t stand the cold, and the thought of eating cold food for every meal sounded mentally draining. 

He didn’t ask, though, so she didn’t give any sort of answer for why she was fixing up his ship.

The man in question did stop in at one point, presumably searching for the source of the screeching her tools were creating. He found her in the shower, the child strapped to her chest in a sling made from one of his blankets, explaining every step she took in replacing the Crest’s water heater with the Whistler’s. 

“What are you doing?” She looked up from her task, head moving in time with the child’s over to the doorway, which she had left open. The fresher was in slight disarray, tools scattered around the base of the shower, with the door and one of the walls of the shower completely removed and leaning against a wall in the cargo bay. She looked from Djarin to her tool in her hand, to the remains of the broken water heater, back to Djarin.

“I’m fixing your shower.” He tilted his head at her.

“It looks like you completely removed my shower.” Ravi blinked.

“I did.” He made no sound, instead continuing to stare at her. “The heater was incompatible with your pipeline, so I disassembled it so I could grind the pipes slightly to accommodate it. It won’t affect the pressure or anything.” 

“I thought you said you weren’t a mechanic.” He nudged a loose knut on the floor with the toe of his boot.

“I’m not a plumber, either. I’m multifaceted.” He shifted his positioning, gesturing to the child hanging around her chest.

“Is he behaving?” Ravi smiled and patted him on the head, which he cooed at.

“Of course. He’s an excellent work partner, the best I’ve ever worked with,” she said fondly, and Djarin shook his head.

“He’s got you fooled,” he said, humor in his tone. Ravi laughed, turning back to her work.

“The heating element is fixed, so no more cold meals. The little one has already enjoyed a mug of warm milk, so if you’re wanting any you better get some before he drinks it all.”

“We have milk?”

“Idun sent us off with some fresh produce. I brought the bags over to the galley, but I didn’t put them away. I didn’t know where everything went.” There was a pause on his end as she struggled to get a stripped screw out.

“Are you hungry?” The kid made an affirmative sound almost instantaneously. Ravi looked back over to Djarin.

“You offering?” He shrugged. “I could eat, then.” He nodded and stalked out of the room. Ravi looked down to the infant strapped on her chest. “Your father is a man of few words.”

-:-

Swapping the water heaters was a longer process than what she had originally estimated. So long that the child finally got bored and squirmed in the sling, so Ravi set him on the ground outside the fresher. In fairness, it was a bit of a fiddly process, but it was time consuming and she’d much rather be spending her time…. Sleeping, at this point. Anything to escape the dullness she’d tasked herself up for. 

But finally, after wishing multiple times that she had something to keep her mind entertained as she did the mind numbing task, she was screwing the wall back on the shower. The door to the shower was a bit more problematic, it was awkward to hold and carry, even more awkward to maneuver. She certainly didn’t remember it being this hard to carry it out, but it might be because she had been filled with determination earlier in the day, where now she was filled with… feeling tired. She grunted as it slipped and landed on the tip of her steel toed boots, wondering if it would be any easier if she took off her gloves. Suddenly, the other half of the door was lifted off the floor and she looked up to see Djarin holding it up. Wordlessly, they carried it into the fresher, where he held it up so she could attach the door pins back into place. When she finished screwing the pins on, she stepped back, Djarin following suit.

She opened the door (which opened with minimal squeaking, thank you very much), and flipped the water on. She tugged her glove off, holding it out under the water stream. Feeling the water warm as it hit her hand, she looked to Djarin excitedly.

“Fixed it,” she declared. He tilted his head at her and paused. His gloved hand clenched and unclenched at his side, and he shook his head, as if batting away. It all happened in a split second, and he hid the motions by folding his arms loosely across his waist.

“Nicely done.”

“Thank you.” Ravi stopped the flow of water, drying her hand off on her cloak before tugging her glove back on. She fiddled with a seam on her left glove. “Now I just need to figure out where the heater is on this ship, so I can stop it being so damn cold all the time.” He scoffed.

“It’s not broken. I just like to keep it on the colder side.” She looked to him, aghast.

_ “Why?”  _ Her feet hadn’t been warm all day, even with the doubled up socks inside of her boots. 

“Dinner’s ready. I left a bowl and spoon out for you. The kid’s already eaten, so you can just lock the galley door if you want.” The change in topic left her mind racing to catch up.

“Oh, thanks,” she replied dumbly, watching as he started to leave the room. He caught himself, though, and turned back around.

“We’ll be landing on Antullio in about 12 hours. Rest up, be ready.” She nodded at him and he took his final leave.

-:-

He’d made some kind of stew with the root vegetables and the squash, seasoned with something she didn’t recognize. It was delicious.

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

  
  


The child was back on her lap as the trio landed in the outskirts of the largest (but certainly not impressive) city on Antullio, Bruan. Ravi tried to keep her flighty mind singularly focused, but instead it was unsurprisingly filled with anxieties of all the things that could have befallen her younger sister. 

Before the proper landing gear had been put into place, she was out of her seat, placing the child gently on the floor. “Do you need help transporting your bounty?” Ravi asked Djarin, just to be polite, fiddling with the top of her gloves. He looked to her, head cocked in his signature look. 

“No, I’ll be alright.” Eager to disembark, she continued her line of questioning as he stood, picking up his child.

“How long are you planning on staying?”

“At least tomorrow, I wanted to refuel.” She nodded, moving towards the ladder and sliding down it.

“I have to run a quick errand, but I’ll be back before then to pick up my things.” She heard him follow after her as she pressed the button to lower the ramp.

“Hey,” she turned and saw that Djarin’s arm was outstretched to her. She grasped it tightly in her own grip. The child placed his own hand on top of their connected arms. “Good luck.”

“Thank you,” she replied, hoping it conveyed she was thankful for everything, not just his wish for her luck. He nodded at her, which she returned, and released her arm.

Ravi spun on her heel and walked down the gangplank and into the waist high stalks of yellow grass, towards the city a few hundred yards away. She looked back after a few moments before shaking her head and setting her gaze on the town.

She had a sister to reunite with.

-:-

The city Bruan was similar to Hynd, in that the streets were dusty and the houses were small and pressed closely together. Unlike Hynd, there was more color, the doors of the homes painted in reflection of the families that lived there. Also unlike Hynd, the city of Bruan was absolutely teeming with people, all going in different directions to get to their destination. Her Walk could only do so much in the busy streets as she walked a familiar course down the market, which was followed by a right down one of the alleys in a shortcut that would shave minutes off her journey.

Ravi could feel anxiety coursing through her, and she struggled to keep it pressed down inside. At one point she thought she’d heard her name called, which was entirely likely, as she was a frequent visitor of Bruan. Seeing no one she recognized when she turned, however, she pegged it as her imagination and continued on her path, squaring her shoulders as she pressed into the crowd on the other side of the alley she’d gone through. The sights and sounds were beginning to grate at her, having grown unused to such visual and audible stimulation in her time on L’Iuun IV. Still, she pressed into the colorful collection of people, weaving her way through them, her anxious thoughts near covered by the sounds of music and chattering in dozens of languages she didn’t understand.

“Ravi!” She heard again. Positive it wasn’t imagined this time, she stopped in her tracks, placing her hand on her blaster handle and spinning around. She scanned the crowd. The voice had been feminine, she was sure, but she saw no one she recognized. She stood her ground, though, letting people move around her.

“Ravi!” It came again, much closer, and she turned to her left, where a familiar head of brunette hair just began to peak over some shoulders in the crowd. Anya. She started moving towards where she saw her last.

“Anya?” She called over the crowd. She heard her name called in response, and she adjusted her path based off of the voice. Suddenly, a body crashed into her, arms thrown over her shoulders, and it was only because the hair that floated in front of her visor was the correct color of brown that she returned the hug instead of shooting her blaster. Happy to see her friend after months, Ravi pressed her helmet to Anya’s forehead as a sign of affection.

“Ravi, thank the stars,” Anya pulled back, her expression drawn and concerned. Ravi placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. 

“Anya, what’s wrong?” Anya glanced around, gaze watchful. She spotted something that had her expression turning sour. “Not here.” The other woman grabbed at Ravi’s vambrace and began tugging her back to the edge of the city. Ravi resisted the grip for a moment, which had Anya turning back around.

“I can’t, I’m going to find Amanda.”

“Ravi,  _ Amanda isn’t there.”  _ Ravi’s heart dropped. It isn’t Anya’s words that convey her meaning, it’s the press between her eyebrows, the down turn of her lips, the way that she leaned forward to say it just loud enough for Ravi to hear it over the crowd.

“What?” Anya gave another tug at her arm.

“Let’s go to my house.”

-:-

Anya was her childhood friend. When Ravi was young, and her parents still lived together on Antullio, she’d made friends with a neighborhood girl. As she’d started spending less and less time planet side as her parents distanced themselves from one another, she’d taken to writing holo letters to her friend. They’d reconnected when Amanda was born and Ravi had started visiting home more often.

Anya was married now, two children of school age and another on the way, judging by the way the woman’s tunic hung off of her.

_ Stars, I’ve really missed a lot, haven't I? _

They didn't speak a word as they weaved through the crowd in the few minutes it took to get to her friend’s home. It was on the edge of the city, within walking distance to the forest and meadows. The painting on the door was a wedding gift from Ravi’s mother, a meadow spotted with yellow flowers, the place where her friend had married. The paint was peeling, after all the years without touch ups, and Anya threw it open with little reverence, shutting it behind the pair with the same amount of vehemence.

Anya breathed heavily, resting a hand on her slightly protruding stomach as Ravi looked briefly around the room, which looked much the way she remembered it— littered with children’s clothes and toys, a loved and lived in environment.

“Kameron’s at work, all the kids are at school.” Anya interrupted her thoughts, collapsing heavily into a cushioned chair. Ravi did as implied, and tugged off her helmet with little hesitation, placing it aside on the kitchen table along with her gloves. Her hands shook and she clenched them into fists. Ravi took a bracing breath and looked to Anya.

“Where’s my sister?” Some wisps of hair that had come loose from her braid fell into her eyes, and she brushed them behind her ear impatiently. Sorrow fell on her friend’s face, and Ravi’s gut clenched.

“You have to understand, I did my best to stop it, but we couldn’t do anything—”

“Where’s my sister, Anya?” Ravi near growled, and Anya swallowed deeply.

“Paulben sold her.” 

Paulben. 

Her father. 

Ravi slammed her fist into the table, rattling the few dishes that remained on it from a meal.

“Well, where is that bantha faced mother fucker, then?!” She shouted, incensed. She was near vibrating with rage, which seemed to only increase when Anya raised her hands placatingly, concern clear on her face.

“He’s dead.” 

The anger was gone in a flash, down to a burning kindle that was much easier to keep a grip on.

Ravi scrubbed at her face with her hands, trying to keep her breaths even. She pulled out a stool from the table and collapsed wearily on it. “You need to tell me everything.” Anya nodded.

“You’re going to get angry.” Ravi waved off her concerns with a sharp flick of her hand. 

“Tell me.” 

-:-

“Do you still have my speeder?” 

“Yeah, it’s in our garage.”

“I need you to come with me, I know someone who will help.”

“Who?”

“He’s like me.”

-:-

Anya’s hands were tight around Ravi’s waist as she sped through the tall grass. At any other moment the ride would have been exhilarating, but this particular moment had her jaw clenched, wondering at ways she could convince Djarin to go out of his way again to help her. She didn’t have much to offer, but desperate times brought to pass desperate offers.

He wasn’t in sight when she pulled up to the Razor Crest, breaking quicker than she perhaps should have. She’d been gone for a couple hours tops, but it was enough to have him take his own trip into town. She’d pray to any deity that was in the cosmos above that was listening, though, if it just meant that he was there.

“Mando!” She shouted, leaving the speeder running as she got off. She stalked up to the ship, intent to use his own radio to call the man when he didn’t immediately reply. Just as she started boarding the ramp, he appeared, blaster held tightly in his grip. He looked her up and down, taking in her antsy holding before glancing around for any danger, though he would only see Anya awkwardly sliding off the speeder with one hand on her stomach, reaching over to flick it off.

“What’s wrong?” His voice was collected, much in contrast to hers when she answered.

“My father sold my sister into slavery. I need your help to get her back. Please.” Her voice broke on the last word, and she could see her vision go blurry as tears gathered. This was a disadvantage of wearing a helmet, not being able to brush tears away in frustration. She pulled anxiously at the top of her gloves and nearly sobbed in relief when instead of questioning her, he nodded and replaced his blaster in his holster.

“Come in.” He spun, cloak following the motion, and Ravi looked back to gesture Anya forward, who watched Djarin go with disbelief clear in her eyes. Anya looked to Ravi.

“You really did find another mandalorian,” awe was clear in her tone.

“Well, he found me, really. Come on.” The pair followed Djarin into the galley, where he was filling a cup with water from the tap. The galley had a table that had benches on either side, and Ravi slid onto one of them. Anya followed quickly after her, leaving the other side for Djarin. He sat, sliding the cup to Anya, who took it and nodded at the man.

“Thank you,” Anya said, taking a deep drink from it.

“Tell me,” Djarin said, unknowingly parroting Ravi from earlier. He leaned forward, laying his forearms on the table as he looked attentively between the two women. Anya looked to Ravi, clearly unsure of him.

“My father’s an abusive —  _ was  _ an abusive drunk.” Ravi led, jaw tight. “My sister, Amanda, lived with him. I took on jobs to help pay for things. I was transporting some parts when I crashed on L’Iuun IV and that flow of money stopped. He sold Amanda for some extra cash.”

“He drank himself to death a few days ago.” Anya added, her hands wrapped tightly around her cup.

“Where is she now?” Djarin asked, voice hard but level. Ravi looked to Anya, who knew more about where Amanda did than she.

“A few months ago, some slavers moved into town and converted a warehouse just outside the city limits of the assembly district.” Only a few months… stars, she really had missed a lot. “There was a lot of uproar, but the city leader couldn’t do anything because it’s outside their jurisdiction, and there wouldn’t be enough firepower to do anything, anyway. There’ve been protests at every auction, but even when they turn violent for both sides, nothing really happens. They have an auction every eighth day.”

“How many days ago was she sold?” Ravi asked, feeling sick even as the words fell off of her tongue. She didn’t look at Djarin, keeping her eyes trained on Anya’s face. Anya returned the gesture.

“Seven.”

_ “Fuck.”  _ Ravi swatted insistently at Anya’s arm. “Move, I’m going to be sick.” Anya was quick to stand and move to the side, clearing a path for Ravi to stumble into the fresher. Her hands shook as she tugged the lock down, and she barely managed to get her helmet off before she started to dry heave into the toilet

_ I am never going to let her out of my sight EVER again. _

When her stomach was finished rolling, she sat back against the wall, letting her head hit the metal. She turned her cheek to let the chill of the ship cool her down. She attempted to even her breaths, trying to calm herself. 

A knock sounded on the door after an uncountable amount of time had passed. 

“It’s me,” Djarin’s voice was instantly recognizable. 

Bone weary, she placed her helmet back on her head, leaning forward to flip the lock on the door but remaining on the floor. She fell back against the wall. He must have heard the click of the lock, because the door slid open. He stepped in and closed it behind him. He looked down at her, taking in her prone position before sitting on the floor across from her. It was a space tighter than the galley, and he grunted as he sat down, arranging his legs in between hers.

“Where’s Anya?” Her voice was ragged. He was an odd choice to send to check on her, but she had been the one to open the door when she’d known it was him, after all.

“With the kid.” Ravi sighed, letting her head fall back against the wall, eyes closed. They flicked open when he nudged her calf with his boot. “We’ll get her back.” Ravi felt her eyes go teary again.

“She’s only  _ 14,  _ Djarin.” He started at the use of his name, but if he didn’t want her to use it when it was just the two of them, he should have told her so. Absently, she realised it was the first time she’d referred to him by name outside of her mind. “She’s the only family I have left.”

“Panicking isn’t going to help her,” he told her honestly, though not unkindly. She nodded again.

“I know.”

“You’re a bounty hunter, you’ve—” He hadn’t even had a chance to finish his sentence when she gave a full body flinch. He froze. “What?”

“I’m not a bounty hunter.” She let her eyes fall shut again, but she could imagine his confused gaze looking over her. Her hands clenched and unclenched.

“What are you, then?”

“I’m a mechanic.” There was a pause as he considered this.

“I thought you said you weren’t a mechanic.” Just a statement of fact, easy, simple, from his point of view.

“I said that I know a thing or two. I haven’t gone bounty hunting since my mom died. I only left because I needed to pick up some specific parts, and make a delivery.” An air of understanding surrounded him.

“That explains why your ship wasn’t outfitted properly for bounty hunting.” He said it as if it was a revelation, and Ravi laughed.

“Yeah,” her breathing had finally calmed, and she enjoyed being able to breath. “I’m still not a plumber though.” He hummed.

“Regardless, you’re a good shot, and we need a plan.” He patted her ankle before standing, leaning down to offer her a hand up. She took it.

Ravi followed behind Djarin as they exited the fresher. She nearly bumped into him when he stopped abruptly, drawing and aiming his blaster. There was a shout of alarm in response. Ravi stood on her toes and peaked around Djarin’s shoulder to see an unfamiliar man standing there, hands lifted skyward. 

“I’m here to offer my services,” the man sounded unsure, voice quavering just a bit. His head shot up as Anya entered the room, carrying the child. 

“Anya? What are you doing here?” His voice was genuinely confused. Apparently determining the man was no threat, Djarin stepped aside. Ravi got her first clear look at the man— diminutive in stature, overall unthreatening appearance, though by no means soft, skin hardened by years in the sun.

“I came to help my friend,” she replied, glancing between the man and the two mandalorians. “Er, this is the city leader I was telling you about. Kanno.” Kanno was looking between Djarin and Ravi, eyebrows raised.

“You know two mandos?” Ravi tilted her head at him, straightening her spine. Djarin tucked away his blaster, but kept his hand on it. Before Anya could reply, Kanno shook his head, clearing it of the thought, face becoming serious. “No matter. I’m here to talk about much more serious.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anybody else just get sucked into play Stardew Valley because I bought it the other week and I cannot stop farming. I have zero regrets.


	7. Chapter 7

  
  


Anya had surrendered her hold on the child, who was getting fussy. Kanno watched with thinly disguised intrigue as Djarin drew the small being into his lap and handed him pieces of dried meat, one piece at a time. The child chewed on each piece proffered to him thoroughly before reaching for another one.

The group had moved outside, gathered around a crate that Ravi and Djarin had dragged out from the Crest to use as a makeshift table. Kanno spread a map over the crate, placing a metal paper weight in each corner. The star was beginning to drop in the sky, elongating their shadows across the clearing. Anya and Djarin were sitting on some old wood stumps they’d found in the clearing, Ravi standing between them.

Kanno looked between the two mandalorians. “I know that people normally call you guys Mando, but I, uh, how does someone distinguish between multiple mandalorians?”

Ravi pursed her lips under her helmet. It was a fair thought, and more respect than what she ordinarily received. She suspected it was much the same for Djarin, if he had similar experiences as her. Her mother had gone by Mando, most of the time refusing to let people even refer to Ravi by any name when she’d gone along on a job. Djarin looked over at her, letting her answer. 

“You can call us Mando and Lori,” she gestured to Djarin and then herself.

“Oh ho, very clever,” Kanno chortled, nodding his head. “Mando-Lori-an. Clever.” He fiddled with the edge of the map, clearly an overview of the city.

“Get to the point.” Djarin ground out, voice flat. The child squawked for more food, and he placed another piece of meat into the kid’s hand. Kanno looked over to him nervously.

"Well, I have someone else coming—" almost as if on cue, the sputter of an old speeder approached. "Oh, yes, there he is." He breathed out a sigh of relief. Anya stood, her brow creasing. Her hands went to her hips as the speeder pulled to a stop. 

"Kameron? What are you doing here?" Anya's husband got off the speeder, pulling off his helmet. His face was full of confusion as he hung his helmet on the handle.

"I could ask you the same thing," he walked up to their makeshift table, taking a roll of paper out of a bag slung on his back.

"Where are the kids?" Anya walked up to him, and he wrapped an arm around her waist to guide her back to the group.

"They're at my mom's, why are you here?" Anya pointed up to Ravi, who nodded at him.

"For  _ Lori,"  _ Anya replied, putting emphasis on Ravi's public name. Kameron looked to Ravi, eyebrows lifting up. He placed the roll of paper on the crate.

"Ah, yes,  _ Lori.  _ I didn't know you were back." He looked at her questioningly. Ravi was familiar enough with Anya’s husband to know that he was requesting a recap later.

"Just got back." She replied, shrugging. Kanno began spreading the rolled paper out that Kameron had brought next to the city plans. It was the blueprints to some building, three stories tall.

“Thank you, Kameron,” Kanno said, smoothing the paper out. The child reached for one of the shiny paper weights, and squawked indignantly when Djarin pulled him away with a gentle chide. “This is the warehouse that the slavers have taken over.” Kanno said definitively, so focused that he hadn’t even noticed the child’s disturbance. He dragged a finger along the outer edge of the city plans. “I have a few people stationed along the edge that just look out for trouble. They’ve noticed some things.”

“What kind of things?” Djarin asked, and Kanno looked over to him.

“What type of weapons they carry. The schedule of rotations. Approximate numbers of guards and slaves.” He looked between the two mandalorians. “This is the information I have for you.”

Djarin cocked his head at Kanno, placing another piece of jerky into the child’s grasp. “You want us to take out the warehouse?” Kanno looked taken aback.

“Well, yes. I thought you would be interested, being mandalorian and all…” 

“My rates are high.” Djarin said leadingly, and Ravi’s head snapped down to look at him. She thought he was going to help her— she wasn’t so naive that she’d assumed it would be  _ completely  _ free, but going this far? Before she could get a word out, he grabbed her arm, fingers digging into her inner elbow. She pursed her lips, but took the hint and stayed silent. His grip remained while Kanno floundered at Djarin’s remark, but he released her when he saw she wasn’t going to say anything.

“Well, I— I can’t offer much beyond this offer of help, maybe an extra hand—”

“Did you want our help or not?” He returned flatly. Kanno hesitated, and Kameron stepped forward, face incensed.

“These people are stealing our children, they stole Rav— Lori’s  _ sister,  _ and you’re asking for a payday?” Djarin stood, setting the child down on the ground.

“This isn’t an easy job that you’re asking us to do. You’re asking us to take down a  _ slave trade.  _ This is dangerous, and there’s the possibility that we could  _ die.  _ I’m not taking this job in good faith, I want compensation.” Kameron opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Kanno, voice resigned.

“No, the man is right, Kameron,” Kanno drew a clinking bag out of his robe, setting it heavily on the table. “That’s what we can afford. Plus an extra hand to help in the project.”

“Me. I’m the extra hand,” Kameron added on, voice slightly bitter.

“What?!” Anya turned, kept close by her husband’s grip that remained around her waist. “What do you mean  _ you’re  _ the extra—”

“Take your marital dispute elsewhere while we plan to get our people back, you two.” Kanno said, leaning over the papers. Anya snapped her gaze over to him, teeth bared.

“Oh, go crink yourself! This wouldn’t be a problem if you hadn’t allowed slavers to move in in the first place!”

“Hey!” Djarin’s sharp voice cut through the argument. The modulator added an extra layer of intimidation to it (the armor might have helped as well), and everyone, including the child, looked over to him. “We’ve got less than a day to do this. Drop the petty and let’s start planning.”

-:-

The plan was pretty straight forward, which made it easier for Ravi to understand, given that she hadn’t gone bounty hunting in over a decade. At the moment, her instructions were to not get shot and not let Djarin and Kameron get shot. It was over simplified, but it had her a bit relieved. She could only focus on very straight forward tasks at the moment.

Kanno had driven off, leaving them with the plans and the bag of credits. Kameron was off driving Anya home, the kid strapped to her back so she could watch after him while they raided the warehouse. Djarin was off on her speeder, surveying the area to see what they were up against with his thermal imaging and telescoping features. She was impressed by learning that; her own helmet only had a headlight. Basically a protective bucket she wore over her head. She didn’t share this fact with him. 

Ravi sat alone on the ramp of the Razor Crest. 

Impatient. 

Waiting for the sun to set.

She could have been sharpening her knives, or disassembling and reassembling her blasters to make sure they were in working order.

Instead she sat on the ramp, knees brought up near her chest as she watched the shadows of the trees grow longer, playing with her gloves.

She thought on the conversation she and Djarin had had, after the plans were mostly set and the group was starting to disperse to get ready.

_ “Why did you say that?” Ravi asked, waggling her fingers to keep the child in her arms entertained. _

_ “Say what?” He was going through his weapons cabinet. One of the weapons caught the child’s eye, and Ravi leaned back so it was far out of his reach. _

_ “That your rates were high. I mean, I thought that you— I knew that I would have to pay you back somehow, but you— I just don’t—” He set down the blaster in his hands and turned to face her head on. _

_ “You don’t need to pay me back.” Ravi blinked. _

_ “But you’ve done so much for me already,” _

_ “This is the Way.”  _

_ Ravi tilted her head, confused at the words. “Okay, but I still don’t understand.” _

_ “Why do something for free, when someone with money is willing to pay?” He reached to his belt and detached the bag of credits, setting it on the edge of the weapon cabinet. “We’re splitting it.” _

_ “What? No.” He tilted his head at her. _

_ “Yes, because you’re doing the job, too. You’ve already fixed my shower and heating element. Stop worrying so much about it.” He holstered his blaster, and that was that. _

This is the Way… it sounded like something her mother would say. Something her mother would say when Ravi was saying something wasn’t fair, or rebelling in the small ways she could.

Ravi drummed her fingers against the ramp.

The Razor Crest had landed in an open clearing, surrounded by trees and wildlife on all sides, but with a clear view of the city. If she squinted, maybe dug out a spy glass, she might be able to see a hint of metal flashing on the tops of the buildings near the assembly district. 

As it was, the shadows of the trees on one side of the meadow nearly reached to the otherside of the clearing by the time Djarin sped back, the sun hanging low in the sky. His cloak floated in the light breeze as he got off the speeder and walked over to her. She straightened, ready to jump into business, raising her head to look at him as he settled on the ramp beside her.

“Nice speeder,” was the first thing he told her, and while appreciated, it hadn’t exactly been what she had been expecting.

“Thank you,” she replied, taken aback. “I built it myself.” He muttered something under his breath at this, but before she could ask him to repeat himself, he continued.

“This is going to be difficult.” Well, she knew that. Obviously. He leveled a look at her. “Even if you know how to shoot, you’re still not experienced with this.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Get to the point.” He sighed at her directness and slouched just a bit.

“The blueprints looked about right, if outdated.” He tapped the side of his helmet. “Dozens of slaves, held in the first two floors, the top is mostly storage.”

“How many slavers?”

“A couple dozen guards inside, a dozen more outside. We’ll have to assume that backup will be pretty quick.”

“Fire power?” It was the right question to ask, apparently, and he gave a hum.

“About what Kanno said. Minimal, mostly hand to hand weapons, daggers or knuckles from what I saw. A few blasters or rifles.” Ravi nodded. “Do you think you could open the cells, if I got you to a control panel?” She creased her brows consideringly.

“To be honest, I don’t know. Manny should be able to, though, she’s better at hacking and coding than I am.” He nodded.

“Best guess is it’s on the east side of the building. We’ll get her out first and watch her back while we free everyone else.” 

His statement jars her, just a bit. It hadn’t hit her yet, that they weren’t just going in for Amanda. This wasn’t a single person extraction, an easy in and out. It’s a selfish thought, and an even more selfish assumption.. Her stomach sunk with guilt, sure that no one in there had  _ willingly  _ gotten locked into slavery. Ravi was absolutely positive that Amanda would have fought against it every step of the way. She clenches her fist, her fingernails digging into the leather of her gloves.

She nods, looking up into his visor. “When are we meeting Kameron?”

-:-

It turned out the answer was not right then. The sun continued to set, dripping lower before setting under the horizon. They’d agreed to meet Kameron in a side alley in the outer edge of the city, close enough to walk in stealthily and not alert anyone with their speeders. Ravi and Djarin kept going back and forth about plans and possible backups, discussing different outcomes, which soothed Ravi’s anxiety a bit. He seemed like a man who would have a plan whenever possible, but she couldn’t help and wonder if perhaps the overplanning was for her benefit. In any case, she was grateful for it.

After the sun had been set for well over an hour, Djarin finally announced that it was time to go. There was a brief scuffle for who would drive the speeder to the outside of the assembly district. Ultimately, it was decided that Ravi would drive, being more familiar with the speeder and already knowing the side alley they were meeting Kameron in, anyway.

The discussion didn’t stop her from tensing when Djarin put his hands on her hips to steady himself as they made a sharp turn around some buildings. If he noticed, he didn’t comment, instead directing her to an alley he had spotted earlier that would make a good hiding spot for the speeder.

The streets were clear of people, which Ravi found odd, considering the amount of people out and about earlier that day. Now that she took the time to think on it, there was a certain franticness to the crowds earlier, hurrying with the attempts to get inside and lock the doors before the sun set. Anya hadn’t said anything about an enforced curfew, though she had mentioned that it was more dangerous to be out at night than in months passed.

The two mandalorians stepped off the speeder, silencing the engine. While Djarin went to peak around the corner to look for heat energies, Ravi looked around the alley. A propaganda poster for the slave market hung, words barely legible underneath a spray of graffiti in a language she didn’t understand. Anya had mentioned how most of the people buying the slaves came from offplanet, similarly with the ones selling them. Ravi wondered if that applied to any missing person reports.

Her attention was caught by Djarin, who waved her over with two fingers. He stepped back and let her peek around the corner, her back inches away from his chest. He brought his hand around her to point at an outpost building. 

“If we go to the left of that building, we’ll be able to skirt around most of the slavers.” His voice whispered into her ear. Ravi pursed her lips.

“Shouldn’t we take out the slavers instead of skirting around them? What if they’re the back up?” He pointed to the other side of the group of buildings.

“Most of them are centralized on the right side. They were scattered more evenly earlier, so it’s safe to assume they change the stations they’re at. They’ve got lower fire power, most of the heavy hitters are closer to the warehouse.” He dropped his hand and the pair continued to scan the buildings. 

The familiar puttering of Kameron and Anya’s family speeder approached, and they turned as Kameron pulled into the alley. He left his riding helmet on as he stood off it, and he was armed with a simple blaster that hung at his side. His clothes were similar to what the slavers had been described as wearing. He nodded at them as he switched off his speeder.

“You guys ready?” She wasn’t, not really. Nevermind that she wasn’t really a bounty hunter, but even when she had helped her mother, she’d never done a job this large before. Give her a plasma tool and a wrench any day of the week. But her sister (and others) were depending on them, whether they knew it or not. 

She inhaled a deep, calming breath. “Point and shoot, make sure you both don’t get shot.” Kameron laughed, patting her shoulder.

“Well, make sure you don’t get shot either,” Kameron said reasonably, and Ravi cracked a grin.

“Right, that too.” She inhaled. Nodded. “Let’s go.”

-:-

Perhaps her side of the plan was a  _ little  _ bit more complicated than “shoot at the bad guys and not get shot yourself.” It could be summed up like that, sure, but it wasn’t quite accurate. More specifically, she and Djarin would find an entrance to the main warehouse to take out the slavers in there and free the slaves. Kameron had the slightly less life-threatening task of taking on the guards stationed in the outposts.

The only sounds to be heard was the light crunching of the dirt and gravel under their steps as they approached the warehouse, and the gentle flapping of the mandalorian’s cloaks as the breeze tugged at them. There had been minimal trouble getting between the buildings, the only incident being a slaver out smoking outside his assignment, not even getting to shout for help by the time Djarin had his blaster drawn, shot landing deadly on the slaver. Ravi was impressed, even as she and Kameron helped drag the man into some shadows to hide them from detection.

No words had been spoken since they’d filled Kameron in on where most of the guards were located at the speeders. Instead communicating completely through head movements and a quick hand language, sometimes just pointing in a direction. The hand language was completely on Djarin’s part, though— she recognized the movements and was intuitive enough to gather their meaning, but she wondered if this was supposed to be something that all mandalorian were just supposed to know. She didn’t know it, in any case, and wondered if her mother had made any attempt to teach her. Ravi couldn’t remember.

It wasn’t long until Kameron pointed in the opposite direction, signaling that he was taking his leave. He nodded when Ravi and Djarin both gave affirming motions, keeping his blaster drawn as crept into the shadows.

Ravi tailed behind Djarin, her own blaster drawn as they traced the outside perimeter of the warehouse, looking for an entrance that wouldn’t cause too much trouble. All the windows were too small for either to fit through, and were barred in anycase, so it looked like they would have to find a relatively unguarded door. Unless the best entrance plan would be to scale the side of the building, which frankly would be ridiculous—

She stopped when Djarin put his hand up and turned to face her. He pointed up, and she looked to see a large, unbarred window on the top floor of the building. She glanced at Djarin, who just pointed at it more insistently. It took her another split second to understand what he was getting at. Ravi stepped close to him, leaving just a couple inches between them as she whispered angrily.

_ “Are you kidding me?”  _

_ “Can you climb or not?”  _ Ravi’s jaw dropped. The wall was old and made of large flat stones, so theoretically it had a lot of grips for her to grasp onto. The fact that the building had tall stories and that the walls were crumbling were not very comforting things to see.

_ “Yeah, I can climb, but—” _

_ “That’s the office, and there’s no one in there right now. It’s got the weapon storage, and we’ll be more efficient if split.”  _ Great, he was abandoning her. This wasn’t in any of the plans they went over. She glared at him, and hoped he could sense it. She held in a growl, tucking her blaster away and shucking off her gloves before pointing a finger at him.

_ “Red head, big brown eyes, small.”  _

_ “I know.”  _ He nodded, cupping his hands together and leaning over to give her a boost. She shook her head and lifted a boot into his grip, bracing herself against his shoulders.

_ “I cannot believe I’m doing this.” _

_ “You’ll be fine.”  _ He assured her.  _ “On three. One, two, three—”  _

Djarin launched her up and she grappled at the wall, quickly finding a sturdy, if dusty, surface. She didn’t dare look down as she climbed, wishing for a plethora of things at once as she began to scale the wall up. First and foremost, she wished that it wasn’t near pitch black outside, and perhaps that it was a climb that led to a nice scenic view. Secondly, she wished that she was alone so she could take off her helmet and see her grips clearer. Lastly, of course, she wished that she didn’t need to break into a slave compound by climbing up 30 feet of old wall. However, none of those were in question, so she climbed to the window, huffing along the way, fingers, forearms, and calves screaming as she struggled to keep herself on the vertical climb.

_ If this doesn’t work, I am going to— be SO angry. _

She reached the window, breathing a sigh of relief when there was a substantial ledge for her to grab onto. Ravi sighed when she saw that though the window had no bars, it had clear glass panes that latched with a lock in the middle, a fact Djarin had conveniently left out. She pulled herself up just enough to see that no one was inside the room, as promised. Relieved, she pulled herself up to the window ledge, bracing herself against it with her boots stuck firmly into the wall below her. She reached into her belt and unsheathed a thin dagger with the intent to press into the lock to break it. As she tugged the blade out though, her center of balance shifted backwards, and she dropped the dagger to grapple at the ledge, panic coursing through her.

_ “Shit.”  _ She looked down to see the dagger sparkling on the ground, 30 feet below her. Djarin was nowhere in sight. Ravi sighed. At least it wasn’t her favorite knife, because she doubted she would have time to collect it. 

She leaned forward more, her helmet clicking against the glass, and blindly reached back to grab her blaster, intending to break the lock off with the hilt. She grasped tightly at the ledge and with as much force as she could muster in her precarious situation, she slammed the hilt on the lock. It didn’t budge.

Ravi stared at blankly.

This building was ancient, how in the stars did it not break?

Ravi sneered and adjusted her grip on the blaster.  _ New plan, shoot the little shit. _

She did just that and winced as the glass shattered with a passion.  _ Lovely.  _ She should have just started with that, then. She crawled carefully over the edge, mindful of the glass, and was just tugging her gloves back on when the door flew open.

A slaver stood there, blaster rifle held in both hands. 

They stared at each other for a beat, both caught off guard.

Her shot wasn’t as impressive as Djarin’s was earlier. For one, he managed to get an angry “Hey!” out before she could raise her blaster. For another, he managed to get his own shot off, rifle much louder than her blaster before she shot him dead.

He fell heavily to the ground. She froze, waiting to see if there were any consequences to the noise. She swore when an alarm went off, the dim lighting instantly shifting to red.

Ravi blinked hard, then flew into action. 

She dragged the man into the office, propping him up against the door as a way to keep it blocked. She tugged the strap of his rifle over his head, looping it around her shoulders as she turned and shot at the blaster cabinet control panel, and the door fell open. She took a quick inventory of the supplies, trying to come up with a plan on the fly.

Explosives?  
Yes, please.

She loaded up, stuffing her belt pockets full even as the alarm continued to blare and heavy footsteps echoed on the metal grating outside the door. She took a couple more fancy looking rifles from the cabinet, strapping them on. Scooping the rest of the blasters up into her arms, ignoring the insistent banging on the door, she unceremoniously dropped them out the window. They would be harder to get to there, on an arbitrary side of the building, rather in the weapons storage. One less weapon against her was another percent her chance of getting out of this alive with her sister and Djarin intact went up.

Ravi drew out a couple explosives, activating them even as the shouts grew from the other side of the door. She looked over them— they would only explode on a timer. To be safe, she set them to half an hour, setting a timer on her vambrace at the same time. She threw one near the storage, where a few weapons remained, and one underneath the desk of the office, which would look much better exploded, in her opinion.

When the door inevitably burst open, armed guards pointing their hand blasters at her, she was ready with her own rifle. Protected by a couple crates stacked in a corner, she leaned around with her rifle and shot rapidly at them. Two fell, but the last ducked back behind the doorway. Wondering at the efficiency of the weapon, she shot through the wall where she had seen him go.

She grinned when she saw the body slump to the ground.

Ravi peeked her head out of the room, looking both ways to decide which would be the best to go. The red lights made it harder to discern any features. Suddenly remembering that Djarin had mentioned that the control panel was on the east side of the building, she turned right. There wasn’t any signage to guide her way, which didn’t much surprise her as she stalked across the grated flooring, trying to push the repetitive alarm out of her mind.

Her path was stopped when a metal bar came out from behind a wall, striking her heavily on her helmeted head. The force from the blow knocked her backwards and she toppled against the railing, dazed, blaster falling from her grip. She barely had the presence of mind to put her arms up to brace against another swing that barreled her way. The bar cracked hard against the vambraces on her forearms, and she felt the impact of it to her bones. Stunned from the blow to the head she wasn’t able to avoid the blow that fell against her thigh, and she fell to the grating, pain lacing through her. 

Bracing herself against the railing, she swung out her uninjured leg, sweeping the feet out from underneath the slaver. Her blaster had fallen a couple feet away from her and she snatched it up, managing to shoot the man before he managed to land any more hits on her.

She fell back against the railing and took a couple deep breaths, allowing just a moment to adjust to the pain. Head still ringing, she groaned as she stood, dropping an activated explosive on the slaver’s chest. Her leg would bruise to be sure, but she managed to walk with minimal limping as she continued on her path down the corridor. One hand supported her on the wall, and the other gripped tightly on her blaster. 

The alarm ringing did  _ not  _ help her growing headache.

Ravi didn’t see any holding cells for slaves on the top level. She peaked into a doorway, blaster first. Most of the rooms were empty or were full of supplies. She made sure to place explosives in them as she searched.

A shout echoed through the halls, and her head snapped up from her inspection of a room. Moving forward in the direction of the shout, she kept her steps light. She replaced her blaster and pulled out one of the rifles she still had strapped to her.

Someone young and shrill screamed something unintelligible, and Ravi’s eyes widened. 

Amanda. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School started back up and I'm so..... tired.... when will my normal sleep schedule return........


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry this chapter is a few days late, I moved recently, and was without internet for a few days. But I got it set up, so I'm back! Enjoy the chapter :)

  
  


Abandoning all pretense of stealth, Ravi rushed down the hall and turned the corner, where there was a set of stairs. She went down them quickly, pain jolting through her with every right step, stepping over a small pile of bodies that had been left there. Ravi held the rifle at the ready as she looked into an open doorway near the bodies, only to have a blaster pressed into her face by Djarin. They lowered their guns at the same time

“You set off the alarm,” he said accusingly, and she sneered at him.

“I did my best, okay?” 

“Did you  _ loot  _ the place?” Now his tone was incredulous, helmet pointed at her collection of rifles, but she pushed past him.

“Would you rather they have the weapons?!” She looked around the room Djarin had been guarding. A group of people of about half a dozen people stood in the back of the room, all in dirty and stained clothes. 

“Amanda!” Ravi called, scanning the faces.

“Here!” Came a high reply within the group. The people parted as Ravi stalked closer, revealing a control panel that Amanda was currently standing over, pressing buttons in rapid succession.

“Your friend told me  _ you  _ volunteered me for the hacking job.” Her tone was distracted, high and reedy with clear nerves. Ravi looked over her sister, who was thinner and a couple inches taller than when she’d seen the teen last. She was still wearing handcuff binders, though the bar between them had been cut. There were bruises on her wrists, and a clear handprint shaped bruise was wrapped around one of her upper arms

Amanda threw a glance her way, eyes frazzled, and Ravi leaned forward, gently pulling her away from the panel and up into a tight hug. Amanda returned it gratefully, pressing her face into Ravi’s neck. She ran a hand up and down her younger sister’s back as she sniffled. Ravi leaned back slightly, cradling her sister’s face in her gloved hands.

“Where have you been?” The query was whispered, her eyes wet and teary. Ravi wiped away one that escaped.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell it to you when we have the time.” Amanda nodded, pressing her forehead up against Ravi’s helmet in a quick show of affection before stepping back and moving to the control panel. Ravi gripped at her sister’s shoulder as she went back into the console’s programming.

“You’re doing great.” She, in fact, did  _ not  _ know if Amanda was doing great. Judging by the unconvinced sound she made at that, Amanda didn’t really know either.

Ravi turned when she got no verbal reply, looking over the group of now— and hopefully forever— ex-slaves. They were a variety of age, species, and gender. Some looked worse for wear, with sallow skin and sunken cheeks, hair greasy, while others looked like they had just been there overnight, clothes relatively unsoiled. Most were covered in a motley of bruises. 

“Who can shoot?” An older humanoid female and with sallow cheeks and a young, timid looking twi'lek both raised their hands. Ravi unstrapped two of the rifles from her back and handed them out. “Don’t shoot at us or each other.” They nodded. She looked over to the front of the room, where Djarin was still standing watch. Unwilling to leave her sister, but knowing she could be of more help near him, she strided over.

“You’re limping,” he greeted again. Ravi released a slow breath through her nose. Stars  _ above,  _ this man was annoying on missions.

“Any coming our way?” She asked, ignoring his comment. He looked back out to the hallway.

“Group of five that way,” he gestured down the stairs, then pointed down the hall, “group of four from that way.”

“How many did you take out?” 

“Seven.”

“Damn, I’m only at five.” Djarin snorted, and Ravi dug into her belt pocket, drawing out her few remaining explosives. “I borrowed these. I’ve spread a few over the southern edge of the building. Timer activated, we’ve got about—” she showed him the timer on her vambrace “— twenty minutes.” He cocked his helmet at her.

“You really did loot the place.” Ravi pursed her lips at the dig, but split the bundle and offered half to him.

“Do you want some or not?” He took the half dozen explosives and tucked them into his own belt. His helmet ticked to attention as a group of footsteps began to grow closer.

“You want the four or five?” 

“Five. I’m feeling confident.” She turned back to the twi’lek and the older woman. “You two are on guard! Shoot anyone that’s a bad guy.” The woman nodded seriously, bringing the gun up to the ready, the twi’lek copying her movements. Djarin was gone by the time she finished doling out instructions, cloak twisting around a corner.

Ravi rested the end of her rifle on the railing, pointing it down to the first floor. The instant a slaver came into view, she shot. In the time the others in the group scrambled to see where the shot had come from, Ravi aimed and downed another. By this point, the slavers found where the shots were coming from, two diving behind corners and one behind stray supplies and leaning out intermittently to shoot back at her. Ravi successfully got the one behind the supplies when a shot hit her pauldron, knocking her off balance just enough that she had to catch herself on the railing. Emboldened by their shot, the slaver abandoned their hiding place, stepping out confidently to begin shooting rapidly. 

Ravi crouched down to avoid the direct firing. “I thought he said not all of them have blasters,” she muttered, taking out her own blaster and shooting the slaver through the railing. He dropped down, dead, and Ravi stood, stomping down the stairs to find the last one. She’d seen them go around a corner, and she kept her blaster lifted as she crept around it.

A sharp pain spread from her shoulder and she spun, seeing the last slaver with a small knife in their hand, tip bloody. They lunged at her again, but Ravi caught their wrists, grip hard. She twisted their arms at an angle that had them screaming out, dropping to their knees. The knife clattered to the floor, and Ravi kicked it away before they could reach for it. They lunged angrily at her legs, but she shot them before they could do any more damage to her.

She reached a hand back to her shoulder, feeling with her fingers. She felt the wound, alright, and hissed when she brushed against it. Her gloved fingers came away stained with blood, not to her surprise.

Her head jerked up when the alarms stopped, and the sound of multiple hydraulic locks undoing at the same time echoed through the structure. She dropped an explosive and began making her way back to the control room, pushing her pain out of her mind for the time being.

_ “Attention, will everyone who isn't a piece of sentient shit please make their way to the entrance of the building, please, or just escape any way you choose. Thank you.”  _

Ravi entered the doorway to see Amanda release a button on the panel, a proud grin on her face. 

“Nice PSA,” Ravi gestured the group forward. Amanda walked past the group, arms outstretched, and Ravi opened her own obligingly. She tapped the chin of her helmet on Amanda’s head, and her sister hugged her just a bit tighter before letting her go.

“It’s good to see you, finally.” She made a grabby hand, and Ravi pressed her blaster into her sister’s palm.

“I agree,” Ravi said. She threw a couple active explosives into the room before turning, stepping out of the room, heading the group.

“Downstairs,” Amanda directed, and Ravi lifted her rifle to the ready as she guided the people forward. It was much easier to leave the building than it was to enter, in Ravi’s opinion. There was a flow of people making their way hurriedly to the entrance. 

She saw Kameron’s familiar helmet of the crowd of people leaving and stuck up her hand, drawing his attention. He pulled his helmet off, letting it drop to the floor before he swept Amanda up into a hug.

“Glad to see you’re okay, Friglett,” he set her back on her feet while Amanda laughed. She shoved at the man’s shoulder.

“I told you to not call me that.” 

Ravi grinned as she listened to their conversation, keeping an eye on the last few people that were making their way through the exit. She watched as a young woman helped an older man limp out of the warehouse. A thought struck her, and she turned to Amanda and Kameron.

“I’m going to look for any injured,” Ravi said, beginning to move away. Panic bloomed on Amanda’s face, who reached forward to grasp at Ravi’s vambrace, turning it so the timer was visible.

“Ravi, there’s only got 8 minutes left!” Ravi put her other hand around Amanda’s wrist, but made no move to remove her grip.

“That’s why I’ve gotta go check. Most of you are bruised and hurt, what if someone is too injured to move?” Amanda didn’t remove her solid grip. “I have time to do a quick pass. I’ll be back.” Ravi looked over to Kameron. “What do you think?” He leaned down and grabbed his helmet, and Amanda twisted around to see how he would reply.

“It’s a good idea, Friglett. Someone could be hurt. We need to go check, if we both go it’ll go quicker.” Amanda’s brow creased, her lips pursing. She nodded, releasing her grip on Ravi.

“Promise you’ll be back?” Ravi nodded.

“Promise. Just get everyone back to the city, away from the blast zone.” She pressed her forehead to Amanda’s, then looked to Kameron.

“Let’s go.”

-:-

Kameron took the first floor, and Ravi took the second. They’d both verbally agreed to leave as fast as they could, whether or not they found anyone. “No waiting up,” Ravi had said. He had young children to look after— there was no way she was letting him get caught in the explosion.

The warehouse was eerily quiet compared to half an hour before. The red lights still flashed as Ravi jogged for the stairs. It cast an uneasy feeling over her, but she did her best to tuck it aside. She would have preferred her blaster for this task, it was easier to maneuver and tuck around corners, but she hadn’t thought of that when she’d left Amanda at the front.

She glanced at her vambrace— six minutes left. The sound of her boots on the stairs echoed slightly as she climbed up to the second floor. Her steps were impossible to keep completely silent on the metal grating, but she kept them as soft as she could, wary of any remaining slavers. She dropped the remainder to her explosives as she swept the building, activating them along the way.

She turned into the doorway of a cell, rifle leading the way. Empty. She repeated this with the remaining cells in the block. The rooms were small, a half dozen beds per room, stacked against either wall so there was a thin pathway between the three high beds. Beds were a generous word, though— they looked like nothing more than stacked pallets, no blankets or pillows in sight. A bucket was in the corner of every room, and she could guess what that was for.

With four minutes left on her vambrace, she’d cleared the last cell. No stragglers, then, and she hadn’t seen any lingering slavers. She started to walk back down the hall to the stairs when a sound caught her ears. She froze, tilting her head to try and locate the source. It was possible that it was just the creaking of the building.

A small sob.

Her brows creased in concern, and she spun back to the last cell she’d investigated. Rifle held high, she ducked into the room. Still empty. Her lips pursed, and she angled her head again, trying to find the source. A quiet sniffle— it was definitely coming from that room.

Crouching, she peered under the slat beds, which were raised less than a foot off the ground. The frightened gaze of a child met hers, a small hand clasped with a white grip over their face. They immediately backed away from her, and she lifted her hands.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Ravi said softly, crawling closer to the slats. “You’re safe, I’m one of the good guys.” They didn’t look convinced. “I’m here to get you out, no one will hurt you anymore.” She stretched out a hand, and let out a sigh of relief when after a moment of hesitation, they took it. They slid themselves out from underneath the slat, allowing Ravi to help them stand. She was young, only a few cycles old, and her hair was shorn close to her scalp in uneven patches. 

Ravi glanced at her vambrace— two minutes— and slung her rifle over her back.

“We have to be quick, are you alright if I carry you?” The girl nodded, putting up her arms and looping them around Ravi’s neck when she lifted her. Ravi shifted her onto her left side, away from her injured shoulder. “Okay, let’s go, sweetheart,”

She took quick steps down the hall, and the sounds echoed off the walls. Her only thought was to exit the building, deciding that since she hadn’t seen any slavers on her second pass, there weren’t any more left.

That was a mistake.

She flew down the stairs, keeping her grip tight around the child, and rounded the corner of a hallway that would lead to the exit. Ravi was greeted by the sight of Djarin aiming his blaster straight at her visor.

_ “Dirycir!”  _ He shouted, and the girl cried out in fear.

Several thoughts went through Ravi’s head in quick succession. First was that she had no idea what he said. Following this, she was pretty sure Djarin wouldn’t aim a blaster at her without good reason. Lastly, there  _ was  _ a deadly weapon aimed at her head, and if Djarin  _ didn’t  _ want to shoot her, surely that meant that she should get out of the way.

Ravi dropped to her knees, forcing the head of the girl into the crook of her neck. Rapid blaster fire exploded over their heads, lasting for a moment before a thud fell behind them.

“Time to go,” Djarin commanded, and Ravi pulled herself up to her feet, running a soothing hand over the girl’s back. Together they ran out the building, cloaks near vertical with their speed. Kameron caught up with them, breathing hard as the trio and child ran to escape the blast zone. The city was in sights, crowds of people gathered at the edges of buildings as they watched on curiously.

“Do you know how powerful those explosives are?” Djarin shouted over at her, rifle clacking against the armor on his back.

“No idea!” She shouted back, just as a huge explosion ripped through the air. It was near deafening, and they went sprawling to the ground. She threw out an arm to catch herself, crying out in pain as the move jarred her injured shoulder. Keeping her body over the girl, who was blinking dazed up at her, Ravi twisted her head to look for any falling debris. Seeing none that posed any threat, she breathed deeply, pushing herself up to her knees, exhaustion filling her. She scooped the girl up into her arms again when she started crying, making soothing noises as she rubbed her back.

Ravi glanced over at Kameron, who was groaning but seemed okay after a quick visual examination, then looked over to Djarin, who was laying on his back, arms spread wide.

“Pretty powerful, I’d guess,” Ravi rasped out, and Djarin turned his head in her direction. She could sense his glare. Kameron scoffed on her otherside, the sound more like a pained cough than a comment on her assessment.

“No shit.” Djarin managed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As an apology for the late upload, here's a bonus chapter! So if you didn't read chapter eight, go back and read it! This chapter is on the longer side, too. Enjoy :)

* * *

  
  


The young girl refused to let go of Ravi. It made it difficult to see exactly where she was stepping— she had to keep her head angled high because of how the girl’s head was buried into the crook of her neck. Ravi’s limp was more noticeable now, an ache that jarred with every step. 

The distance between the city and the warehouse hadn’t seemed so large earlier in the night. They trudged through the grassy field that separated them, and Ravi felt every step. The crowds were larger on the edge of the city, people gathering to watch the smoldering remains of the warehouse that had plagued them. Ravi could see the beginnings of a celebration, and what looked like a medical zone for the injured. 

Bruan worked fast, it seemed.

As they got close, cheers went up. Evidently, word had spread that they were the ones that had freed the people. People came up, patting her on the shoulders (she winced when they patted her right shoulder, agitating her wound), seemingly unbothered by her armor. Unused to this type of attention, and unsure if she liked it, she nodded to the ones that came up and thanked her. Kameron seemed much more comfortable, shaking hands, nodding emphatically, and smiling luminesently. Djarin seemed to be having a similar experience to her, though.

Ravi looked down to the girl in her arms, who had sat up but was still gripping at her tightly. The girl didn’t seem too inclined to speak to any of the people that came up, and even went so far as to lean away from them. Ravi, sensing her unease, brought her cloak around her shoulder, wrapping it around the girl. She snuggled into it, pulling it over her head.

Ravi craned her head over the crowd, searching for a familiar head of shoulder length red hair. Anxiety went through her when she couldn’t immediately see Amanda, but she squashed it down. There was no reason Amanda wouldn’t have made it out. She had the time, she had the fire power and the shooting ability to ensure it. Deciding it was better to make sure the girl wasn’t concussed rather than wallow, Ravi grabbed Djarin’s attention, gesturing between the girl in her arms and the make-do medical area. When he nodded his understanding, she trudged over to where some of the worse for wear slaves were.

The old man she’d seen limping out of the warehouse was there, the young woman still at his side, holding his hand as someone tended to his ankle. She glanced around, seeing a couple other familiar faces, ones that had been in the group with Amanda. Sighing, she shifted the girl on her hip, looking for someone who looked to be in charge. There, a green humanoid, doling out instructions and commands. Ravi approached them, waiting mostly patient while they finished. They looked at her. She gestured to the girl with her head.

“What do you need?” Not unkind, but straight to the point, which Ravi appreciated.

“I want to make sure she’s not concussed. We got caught in the explosion.”

“Of course.” They grabbed a penlight from their pants pocket and tugged at the edge of the cloak, where the girl was still gripping the edge tightly. The humanoid (Ravi wasn’t sure of their species, and even if she had, her brain was winding down from the adrenaline) gasped as the cloak was moved to reveal the girl’s face.

“Shinya?” Their face was in shock.

“You know her?” The girl— Shinya?— blinked impassively up at her, sleep dragging her eyes closed. The humanoid nodded, eyes wide. They looked up to Ravi’s visor.

“Yes, yes I do. She’s my neighbor’s daughter, she’s been missing for days.” They spun and barked something in an unfamiliar language at a person resembling them, who glanced at the girl in Ravi’s arm before rushing off into the crowd.

“He’s going to get her father.” They shook their head. “Amazing.” They lifted the penlight once more. “Do you mind holding her, still? She seems very attached to you.” Ravi shook her head. “Let’s see if you’re hurt, little one.” Shinya didn’t much like the light being shined in her eyes, and she tried to drag Ravi’s cloak back up. The humanoid handled it patiently, brushing aside the repeated attempts and gently holding Shinya’s face when she got fussy. They put the pen light away and used their hands— slightly webbed— to feel along Shinya’s scalp, which the girl seemed to barely tolerate.

They stepped back. “Well, she’s got a minor concussion, but if she’s not hurt anywhere else, then—”

“Shinya?!” A man shouted, and the girl in her arms became alert, twisting in her grip. Ravi grappled to keep hold of her.

“Papa?!” It was the first word the girl had spoken in Ravi’s presence.

“Shinya!” A man pushed through the crowd of people, eyes desperate. He caught sight of them and sprinted over, tears coursing down his cheeks. As he approached, Shinya reached out to him, sobbing, and her father scooped her up into his arms. Ravi watched with their neighbor as the two reunited, a tired smile on her face. Shinya sobbed into her father’s shoulder, grasping tightly at his shirt, while he buried his face into the top of her head, bringing a hand up to rub her back.

She looked away when she felt a hand press light on her right shoulder. Ravi looked over to see the green humanoid smiling at her.

“Thank you. He’s been overcome with grief.”

“What happened?”  
“Stolen in the night." They said it factually. They patted her shoulder and she winced as pain shot through her. The medic's brow creased, and they ducked behind her to look at her wound. "Mando, your shoulder needs to be looked at—”

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Shinya’s father interrupted, not noticing the discussion. Ravi smiled, glad for it, and nodded her head at him. She stuck out her arm, and the man shook her hand fervently. She held in her groan of pain.

“I’m just glad she has a home to go to,” Ravi replied, patting the man’s hand. He shook his head.

“No, you brought my daughter back. There was no way I could buy her back, and I couldn’t afford to if they let me in—” Ravi put a hand on his shoulder.

“Just keep her safe. Upgrade your security system on your home. Be a good father.” Fresh tears pooled out his eyes.

“Thank you, Mando.” Ravi nodded at him, then to the medic, and took her leave.

She weaved through the crowds, looking for her sister. There was a full celebration at this point— someone was blasting a bass heavy music over the mass of people. Bottles and cups of alcohol were being passed along. Shouts of joy were frequent as people were reunited. Sobbing, too. Exhaustion dragged at her as she limped around people, trying to keep as small as possible as she pushed her way through the near shoulder to shoulder crowd.

She’d never really been good at crowds like this. It’s one of the reasons her mother hadn’t often brought her on jobs; she just got overwhelmed easily. Being a mechanic was simple— it was her, her tools, and the things she needed to fix. Even if an angry client was leaning over her, she was more often able to push them out of mind by focusing on her task single mindedly. Here, though, she didn’t have that. The music was loud in her ears, the chatter intense, and the press of bodies against hers quickly sent her mind into overdrive. She tugged at the edges of her gloves, pulling them tight on her hands

She stopped in her tracks. This wasn’t working. People worked their way around her as she inhaled in and out deeply, trying to calm herself. In for five seconds, out for five seconds—

A great force from her left side knocked her down, and she barely had the presence of mind to twist mid fall as to not land on her shoulder. The impact on the hard ground still sent a jolt of pain through her head as she landed, and she groaned.

_ “Ow, fuck,”  _ There was a heavy weight settled on top of her, and Ravi opened her eyes to see Amanda, teary eyed.

“I looked everywhere for you!” Amanda grasped both sides of Ravi’s helmet. “I thought you were in the blast!”

“I told you she was with me, and I told you she was injured!” Djarin’s gloved hand tugged at Amanda’s shoulder, and when he was met with resistance, he looped his hands under her arms and hauled her up.

“Well, that doesn’t do me any sort of good when she—” Djarin leaned down even as Amanda slapped at his pauldron irately, offering a hand to help Ravi up. She took it, groaned as she stood, and blinked to get the dizziness out of her eyes. Amanda was still ranting with angry tears, and Ravi pulled her into a hug as the teenager continued. “—and you said you’d be back, but there were so many people, and—” Ravi ran her gloved fingers through her sister’s hair, who seemed to be running out of steam. She quieted after a moment, gripping tight at Ravi’s back. “You missed my birthday.”

“By a lot,” Ravi commiserated, continuing to play with her hair.

“You owe me a nice cake.”

“Alright.”

“A big one. With layers and fruit.”

“Okay.”

“And you can’t have any.”

“We can do that.” The murmurs of the crowd seemed to have faded away, and Ravi could hear Amanda’s gentle sniffling. After a moment, Djarin spoke up again.

“Kameron was waiting until we found you to head back to his home.” Ravi looked over Amanda’s head over to Djarin.

“Okay, let’s head back, then.”

-:-

Djarin drove, this time. Amanda rode on Kameron’s speeder, who led the way for the mandalorians down the streets back to his home. Unlike earlier that night, the streets were full of light and celebration, but most of the people were gathered near where they had left. News seemed to have spread fast, and people waved as they drove past in the streets.

Anya was sitting on her little porch, illuminated by the yellow lights of the city. She perked as they drove up, as did the child she was holding in her arms. Kameron was quick to get off the speeder and give her reassurance that he was alright with a hug and a kiss. He was quickly abandoned, though, when Anya spotted Amanda over his shoulder, taking off Kameron’s helmet that he had lent her.

“Manny!” Not bothering to hand the child off, she shifted him to one arm and used her free one to latch around Amanda. Amanda returned the hug with fervor, much to the disconcertion of the child, who trilled tiredly. Amanda backed up and let Anya go immediately, eyes wide as she examined the green child.

“Who is this? I was only gone for a week!” The child squinted up at her in reply, making a disgruntled noise.

“He’s mine.” Djarin said, watching over them. Amanda raised an eyebrow at him, stretching a finger towards the kid in greeting.

“You have a kid?” He shrugged in reply, and Amanda gave one in return, watching with concentration as the child considered her finger before reaching forward and grasping it.

Kameron patted Anya’s shoulder. “Let’s go in. R—  _ Lori’s  _ injured.” Anya turned and looked appraisingly over Ravi, and she gave a one shouldered shrug. Anya sighed, and shifted the child back into his Djarin’s arms. The kid seemed very pleased with this, and cuddled close when Djarin placed a hand on his back.

“Well, everyone come in. There should be enough room for everyone.”

Djarin shook his head as Kameron opened the door, Anya behind him. “I can’t. My ship—”

“Will be there in the morning. You’ll have your own bed, and I’ve kept dinner warm. I know the code well enough.” Anya said, her mothering tone brokering no argument. He sighed, but followed them up the doorstep, Ravi and Amanda close behind.

“I’ll get the speeder’s put away in a minute,” Kameron said, slinging his jacket across the back of the couch. “Kids asleep?”

“Out like a light,” Anya replied. She looked to Ravi. “You and Amanda can have the kid’s bedroom, they can sleep with Kameron and I tonight. Mando, we have a guest bedroom you can use. It’s a bit of a mess because we also use it for storage, but you’re welcome to it.”

The next bit of time was spent shuffling around people in the small home. Anya had made roasted vegetables and meat, and Amanda served plates to everyone while Kameron put away the speeders and Anya shuffled the kids to her bedroom. Amanda ate like she was starving (she probably was) and Djarin ducked into his assigned bedroom with his plate, letting the kid wander the room while he ate. Ravi watched him explore the space as she placed her stolen rifle to the side, his ears drooped and eyes half lidded. He climbed onto the couch, and she wrapped him up in a blanket someone had left there. Once everyone had been situated, Kameron and the kids passed out and Djarin tucked in his room with his kid, Anya dragged Ravi into the master bedroom’s refresher, Amanda close behind.

“Strip,” Anya commanded. With a rye smile, Ravi did as she was told, tugging off her helmet with her left hand. Amanda, who had tucked herself onto the counter, leaning against the wall, frowned.

“You look terrible,” she commented. Ravi snorted and started unbuckling her vambraces while Anya worked to help unstrap her backplate. Amanda wasn’t really one to talk— her handcuff binders had been removed, but she was still mottled with bruises. She was shoeless, her feet littered with small scratches and dark with dirt, and in dirty pajamas that looked like they wouldn’t keep her warm even on Tatooine. Her hair was a tangled mess, and there were deep bags under her eyes. By the way she leaned against the wall, as if it was the only thing keeping her up, she was completely exhausted and ready to fall asleep at any moment. Ravi was surprised she still was.

“Thanks,” Ravi said instead of commenting on any of these things. Amanda watched with a critical eye as Ravi and Anya removed the rest of her armor, setting the pieces softly on the counter. Amanda picked up a vambrace, running a finger along the edge of it.

“Your paint is all scuffed.” Ravi nodded. Completely de-armored, she sat heavily on the edge of the bathtub. Anya brushed Amanda’s feet to the side and began digging in a cabinet under the sink.

“I’ll have to repaint it soon.” She unzipped the top of her jumpsuit, breathing deeply to prepare herself for what the next action would bring. She pulled the right side of her jumpsuit off with her left hand, hissing as it moved her shoulder. Amanda was quick to jump off the counter at the sound, and gently helped to guide her arm out of her sleeve.

“Your arm is very bloody,” Amanda voiced weakly. Ravi looked down to see the blood from the wound had indeed spread.

“Probably because I had to keep using it.” Anya, having found the medikit, balanced it on the edge of the tub next to them.

“What happened?” Anya asked, digging through the kit.

“I got stabbed.” She promptly received two sets of glares.

“Yeah, we can see that,” Amanda scoffed, shifting to sit in the tub behind her. Ravi could feel her fingers in her hair, gently picking out her hair pins. She hummed thoughtfully, her eyes sliding shut.

"Well, Kameron met us in the city, we walked over, split up. I climbed to the third floor, though I don't know how Mando got in." She hissed as Anya started cleaning the wound, and continued after a moment. Amanda began brushing her fingers through Ravi's freed hair. "I got caught, and they set off the alarm. A slaver caught me by surprise, I got stabbed. Manny freed everyone, and I went back through to see if there was anyone left. Found a kid, and we all made it out before the explosion."

"What was Kameron doing there, anyway?" Amanda asked and Anya sighed.

"He just happens to know how to fight and shoot a blaster, and also work for Kanno. He was more dragged into it than anything." Amanda hummed in understanding. 

"Do you have some scissors? Ravi needs her hair cut." 

"Sure, hold on." Anya smoothed a bandage over Ravi's shoulder and stood from the edge of the tub. "That's a bacta bandage. Not the best quality because the kids insist on them for everything, so I can't get the good stuff. It should save you from needing stitches, though." She dug a pair of scissors out of a drawer and handed them back to Amanda, who got to work cutting. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" 

"Got hit pretty hard on the thigh, but I think it'll just leave a bruise." Anya nodded, beginning to pack up the medikit. Silence reigned, filled only with Kameron's gentle snores and the snips of the scissors cutting through hair. Anya settled next to Ravi, balanced on the edge of the tub with her back on the wall to watch Amanda.

"So where have you been?" Anya asked after a moment. Amanda froze, scissors stilling. Nobody had asked it so far, and Ravi was surprised that it had taken this long for anyone to ask it. She rubbed at her face and sighed.

"Crash landed on an out of the way planet called L'Iunn IV. Isn't even on the star charts it's so small." Amanda resumed cutting. "The delivery went fine, I was on my way to pick up some parts… diagnostics were fine. Still don't know what went wrong, but power was failing and I had to make an emergency landing. I met this couple— Idun and Dane— and they helped me until I could figure out a way back here."

"The Whistler is gone?" Amanda asked, voice carefully even. Ravi shifted, digging into the belt still on her waist and pulling out the piece of metal with her mother's hand writing on it. She handed it back, and Amanda took it from her grip.

"Yeah. There's no fixing her."

"Well, what are you gonna do, then?" Anya asked, leaning forward. "The Whistler is gone, you've been gone for months so I doubt the mechanic shop still has a place for you. There's no way you can afford to keep the house—” Ravi sat up straight, stretching to pop her back.

“Yes, thank you, that’s very helpful right at this moment, at—” she checked her vambrace for the current time, “—two AM, thanks,”

“Well, you two can stay here, we do have that extra room. But what about all your work off planet?”

“Well, I won’t be going off planet to work anymore, then. Not until I can afford to buy a ship.”

“With what money?” Ravi glared over at Anya.

“I’ll figure it out, okay? Right now my priority is, in this order, making sure Amanda is safe, sleep, and— actually, no, that’s it.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Amanda tugged at a strand of Ravi’s hair, and she laughed.

“We’ll get it sorted. I’ll find some work, and—” a thought struck. “Is the apartment still there? Wait—” she turned around to face Amanda, spinning on the ledge of the tub. “Dad’s dead,” she said, with little fanfare. Amanda blinked, eyes wide with shock, scissors still poised in the air.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“How?” Ravi nodded to Anya.

“Drunk himself to death.” Anya supplied.

“Oh.” The group sat in silence as Amanda took it in. She looked down to the small pile of Ravi’s split ends in the base of the tub, brow creasing in thought. “Is it… Is it bad that I’m sad? Just a little bit?” She sniffled and pushed an arm across her eyes. “Like, he was terrible—”

“—he was the worst—” Ravi added helpfully, nodding along.

“—an awful father, to be sure—”

“—couldn’t even hold a job—”

“—and an abusive bastard who hurt everything he touched.” Amanda ended seriously, grip tight on the square with her mother’s memory. “But he was still my dad,” her voice broke, and Ravi pulled her into a tight hug.

“I know.” Amanda sobbed into her shoulder, and the metal square fell with a clack. Ravi felt her own eyes tearing up, and buried her face into the top of her sister’s hair. She felt Anya’s hand rub on her back. “I know.”

-:-

Eventually, they did make it to bed. Anya had lent them some of her pajamas, loose cropped shirts and drawstring pants. The beds for the kids were small, and her feet hung off the end of the bed. She was sure Amanda was having a similar problem. The room was lit by a little night light in the corner, and a soft glow was cast over their figures. Amanda seemed to be having just as hard a time falling asleep as she did, tossing and turning in the bed. Ravi lied on her left side, facing her. As exhausted as she was, sleep wouldn’t visit her.

“Was dad…” Amanda started, evidently giving up the pursuit of sleep. “...always like this?” Amanda asked, flopping onto her back, spread eagle. Ravi pursed her lips, following suit in lying back gently on her bed. 

“No… no, I don’t think so,” she thought back on it, eyes gazing up to the ceiling she couldn’t see. “He wasn’t when I was young. He had a pretty volatile relationship with mom, but he always seemed happy to see me… I think things changed when mom died. Something in him broke, maybe…”

“Were they happy together? Mom and dad. Did they love each other?”

“I… I think they did. They had to have. They weren’t good for each other, and it was probably a pretty toxic relationship, but I think they did.” 

They both fell quiet. Ravi was close to sleep when Amanda spoke up again.

“Do you think they loved me?”

“Okay, here’s the thing,” Ravi turned back to her side, the glow of the night light just enough to meet her sister’s eyes. “I may not know if they ever really loved each other. They cared for each other, sure. But I  _ know  _ they loved you. Something in dad went bad, and he stopped caring and loving altogether, but at one point, yes, he loved you. And mom always loved you. She would love you, she’d be  _ so proud  _ of you. And  _ I  _ love you, and  _ I’m  _ proud of you.” The room went quiet again, and after a moment Ravi heard Amanda sniffle.

“I love you, too. I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

The room fell silent, and sleep finally dragged Ravi down. It was a heavy sleep, with no dreams.

It seemed like only seconds later when she was woken by a heavy pounding on the door. Ravi sat straight out of bed, eyes wide as she looked around for her helmet. She could hear arguing outside her door, between what sounded like Kanno and Kameron. Tugging her helmet on over her loose hair, she strided to the door as Amanda struggled to get the bed sheets off. She unlocked the door and threw it open to see Anya looking worried.

“What’s wrong?” Anya gestured for her to follow her, and they entered the living room where Djarin (fully dressed and armored), Kameron, and Kanno were in a heated discussion. 

“—well it’s a good thing I don’t care what you think, because—” Djarin was speaking, arms crossed over his middle when she entered. He looked up as she came into the room, voice cutting off, quickly scanning her up and down. Kanno looked relieved to see her, and stepped toward her, despite the arm Kameron shoved in front of him to stop him.

“Lori, thank the stars. There’s a group of slavers outside the city, just on the boundary of the forest. The outlooks saw them this morning, with—” he was interrupted when Kameron pushed him back, expression angry.

“I told you, she can’t help, she’s injured.” Ravi glared at him, and rolled her shoulder. Sore, but otherwise seemingly fine.

“You don’t get to decide what I do or don’t do. My shoulder’s fine.” She looked over to Djarin, who had turned his back, picking up the rifle she’d placed by the door last night. He looked up to see the group— the two men, Ravi, and Anya and Amanda, who had joined— staring at him, and he glanced back down to check over the rifle. He pointedly did not meet her eyes. He cleared his throat.

“It’s not up to me,” he said, shrugging. Ravi gave a pointed look to Kameron and crossed her arms across her midriff. She looked down. Her midriff was bare. She felt her skin. Her skin that she was currently baring to multiple people. She swore under her breath and stalked out of the room, pointing at Kameron as she left.

“Talk loudly!” She commanded, striding down the hall. She turned to close the door, cheeks burning, and Amanda slipped in, grin tugging at the end of her lips. Ravi closed the door, listening with half an ear as they continued the discussion in the main room. She took off her helmet before beginning to change out of the pajamas. Her face was red, she could feel the heat.

“I cannot  _ believe  _ you just walked out like that,” Amanda laughed, tugging at a strand of Ravi’s hair.

“Shut up. Help me get dressed.”

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)

  
  


_ Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck— _

Turns out her shoulder wasn’t  _ really  _ that fine. Also the rifle didn’t really do her any good when there were so many trees for slavers to hide behind. It  _ also  _ turned out that she was kinda not all that great at hand to hand combat, which was  _ very unfortunate.  _

Kanno’s information wasn’t quite as accurate as it had been the night before. She’d been led to believe that it was a gathering of about half a dozen slavers from the night before who’d escaped. This was partially the case— what was more accurate was that they had called in the “big guns.” Meant both literally and figuratively. She wasn’t sure at the number of slavers, given how quickly they ducked behind trees, and she wasn’t fighting them all, anyway.

What she  _ was  _ fighting was the urge to pass out from the burning in her shoulder as she limped through the forest, rifle at the ready. A gun fired in the distance and she flinched, stepping over the body of a slaver Djarin must have left behind.

The plan was  _ not  _ to get separated. Anya had refused to let Kameron help again, and had actually argued with Ravi about whether or not she was physically capable of going. It was decided that her shoulder was healed enough that she could go with Djarin to fight off the remaining slavers. The plan was to stick together (unlike the warehouse the night previous) and fight through them systematically. But they weren’t supposed to have called in reinforcements, or have advanced weaponry that fired impressive shots of barely contained, sparking electricity. She figured this out when a bolt went just by the side of her head and she could hear it crackling passed her before it landed in the side of the tree with a bang.

She ducked behind a tree when a shout came, quickly followed by a barrage of blaster fire, the impressively deadly kind. She swore, ducking her head instinctively when a blast hit the edge of the tree, sending bark flying. She brought her rifle up to the ready and leaned out from her cover to rapidly shoot at them. Return fire came, and she sidestepped back behind the tree. She breathed heavily, preparing to lean out and fire again, when a hand gripped her elbow. She swung instinctively and clipped them hard in the shoulder.

“Stop, stop, it’s me!” Djarin shouted into her ear, and she paused in her assault. “You’re bleeding pretty badly—”

“There’s nothing we can do about that. You’ve got the beskar armor, what are we supposed to do here—” She ducked when a blast hit the tree, her helmet hitting Djarin’s breastplate. He put a hand on the tree, next to her shoulder, and leaned around her to fire his own blaster at the group of slavers. Judging by the scream that sounded, his aim was good. He ducked back, keeping his head close to hers so they could communicate around the sound of the blaster fire.

“Can you still shoot?” Ravi nodded in reply. “I’ll draw their fire, then you take them out while they're distracted. These are the last few, looks like—” he glanced over in their direction, presumably looking through his thermal imaging. “Five left.”

“What if they hit you? Their fire power is—” Another blaster bolt hit the tree, and it left her ears ringing. Djarin leaned out and fired at them. “Hard hitting,” she finished.

“I won’t get hit. I’ll go that way, you go that way,” he said gesturing. “Aim for the ones with the big guns. Ready?” Ravi inhaled shakily and nodded.

“Ready.” He nodded back at her and stepped out from the tree, lifting his blaster and firing into the grouping of slavers. Ravi went around the other side of the tree, bracing her rifle in the crook of her shoulder. She couldn’t see Djarin from her position, but she could see that he was doing a great job drawing their attention to himself. Steadying her rifle on the tree she took aim, trying to find the slaver who had the electric blaster she had no name for in her scope. Just as she leveled on him, he moved and she swore, lowering the scope to try and find where he had gone.

She left the protection of the tree just as three slavers ran past after Djarin. She fell back against the tree to avoid detection, but one of them spotted her, a snarl growing on his face as he turned. He raised his blaster at her, stance straightening, and she swung her rifle like a mace, intent to knock it out of his hands. He caught it, which was  _ not  _ her intent, and attempted to tug it out of her grasp. She cried out in pain when the movement jerked her shoulder, and she kicked at his unprotected legs. He grunted, but seemed otherwise unimpressed, and gave a sneering laugh.

_ Ah, shit.  _

Change of plans, then.

She dropped down, keeping her grip tight on her rifle and dragging him down with her. As he fell, she kicked hard at his chest, and he lost his grip on the rifle and fell to the ground, flailing. She sat up, struggling for a moment to position her rifle in the correct direction to shoot him, not herself. While she grappled with her weapon, she saw the slaver lift his at her, spitting a curse as he did so. She tugged at her rifle— the strap was stuck under her, making it impossible to lift it to fire at him. She shuffled backwards on her elbows, eyes wide. She brought up a forearm in an attempt to block the coming blaster fire with her vambrace, and flinched when a shot fired.

It didn’t hit her, though. She lowered her arm and sat up, seeing Djarin still pointing his blaster at the now dead man. He kicked the blaster the slaver had been using towards her. Ravi snatched it up.

“You alright?” He put a hand down to help her up, and she reached up to take it, only to have electricity fire past, the blast pulsing through the air. Ravi watched in horror as it landed just above Djarin’s breastplate, and he dropped to the ground heavily. Eyes wide, she turned and saw the slaver out from cover. She lifted up her newly acquired blaster and fired rapidly at the slaver, who fell to the ground when she landed four shots on him. When he dropped, she abandoned her gun and crawled over to Djarin, eyes wide. He wasn’t moving.

“Djarin? Djarin?!” She leaned over the top of him, frantically shaking him to get a response, any movement. 

Heavy footsteps sounded to her right and she snatched at the blaster she’d dropped to shoot the remaining slaver in the head. She listened for a few seconds, head cocked, but when she heard nothing, she shucked off her gloves. She pushed aside Djarin’s cloak to press her fingers against his throat, desperate for a pulse. 

Three seconds pass.

Five.

Ten seconds, no pulse.

“No.” She reached for the clasps on his breastplate, tugging it off and throwing it carelessly to the side. “Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.” She centered her hands above his heart and began giving him chest compressions, counting anxiously up. At thirty, she paused, moving to check his pulse.

Ten seconds pass slowly. Not even a flutter.

“No, no, no.” With only a breath of hesitation, she ripped off her helmet, tossing it to the side before reaching to pull off Djarin’s. She tilted his head back while lifting his chin up, and pinched his nose before administering two deep breaths of air.

Panicked tears started falling down her cheeks as she started counting chest compressions again, pain racing through her injured shoulder with every press. After thirty, she gave another two breaths, her tears dropping onto his face.

“You cannot die, 16, 17, 18, not today, I have to pay you back—” she breathed into him and began to press on his chest again, her tears beginning to blur her vision. 

Another cycle of breath and compressions. 

Another. 

“Fuck!” 

Another cycle. 

Another. 

“Please don’t die.” 

Another cycle, and she cried out as a compression sent pain ripping through her shoulder. Her body burned from exhaustion, her breath harsh and ragged. His chest was slowly becoming more and more covered in blood that had seeped and dripped down from her shoulder.

She began chest compressions for the ninth time when a gasping breath tore out of Djarin. He turned towards her, coughing air as he reached out to ground himself, and one hand managed to snag her left hand while the other moved to grip her right hip.

“Oh shit, oh fuck,” she rubbed at his unarmored back, trying to comfort him as he sobbed for breath. She kept her gaze pointedly on his shoulder, ignoring the tears that still dripped down her face. “You’re fine, you’re okay, you’re not dead, you didn’t die—”

“It feels like I did,” he contradicted, voice deep and raw and scratchy and unfairly attractive and— 

Unmodulated. 

Because he wasn’t wearing his helmet. 

He seemed to realise this at the same time she did.

She could tell because his grip on her hand and hip tightened significantly.

“Oh, here—” she looked around, and spotting his helmet, she leaned over him to reach it, pulling it close so he could tug it on. She averted her gaze, allowing him privacy while she tugged her own helmet on. He began to sit up, groaning and pressing a hand to his collar bone. She made an alarmed noise, looking over at him. “Are you sure you should be—” he looked sharply at her and she promptly shut her mouth.

The silence was tense as she collected his breastplate for him, passing it over without a word. He struggled to buckle it on, clearly in pain, but she left him to it, instead using the tree to help her to her feet. She stood and braced herself against the bark, blinking away the dark spots in her vision. Glancing around, she spotted the man with the electric blaster, and she limped heavily over to the dead slaver. She sighed a groan as she leaned down to pick it up, examining it curiously. It looked much like an ordinary blaster, but with a large energy converter on the back end, making it difficult to balance a shot.

Djarin groaned behind her and she turned, watching him slowly stand, bracing himself against the tree like she had. Limping back over to him, she strapped her new blaster to her belt and leaned down to pick up her gloves and tuck them into a pocket. She watched Djarin with a careful eye as she did her tasks. When he took an experimental step and nearly fell, she stalked over to his right side, looping his arm over her shoulders. She tilted her head up at him.

"Alright?" She rasped out, and she felt him inhale deeply and let a slow breath before he nodded.

The trek was slow. It was an unspoken decision that they would head back to the Razor Crest, and they pointed themselves in that direction. She wasn't sure how much support she was giving him and how much he was giving her— or maybe they were supporting each other. He held her up just enough that her leg wasn’t crumpling underneath her, and she supported him enough that he didn't collapse to the ground.

Eventually, they made it to his ship. They half stumbled to the control on the side, and he grunted as he lifted his arm to punch in a code. They watched impassively as the ramp lowered to the ground. It landed with a thud, and only then did the two mandalorians move towards it. They climbed the ramp and Djarin moved away, shuffling over to rummage through some of the cabinets.

"Comlink?" Ravi asked, holding her right arm close to her chest in an attempt to get some weight off her shoulder. He pointed to the ceiling without looking at her.

"Cockpit." She stared at him for a moment, but when he continued rummaging she headed to the ladder, somehow managing to pull herself up with one arm. Making it to the cockpit, she fell heavily into the pilot chair, making sure to not lean back and get blood on it.

Deep inhale. Deep exhale.

When the spots from her exertion cleared, she glanced around the control panel. Finding the comlink, she typed in Anya’s number. 

“Hello?” She answered on the first ring.

“We’re not dead,” Ravi intoned.

“Ravi, thank the stars! Are you alright? What happened—” Anya cut off, and was quickly replaced with Amanda.

“Where are you?”

“On the Razor Crest. The slavers are dead, but I don’t think that you should—”  
“I don’t care if it’s safe, where’s the Razor Crest?” Ravi sighed.

“Kameron knows where it is.” The sound went muffled, and she could hear a vague discussion on the other side of the comlink. 

“We’re on our way.” Amanda hung up promptly. Ravi let her head fall back against the chair, the helmet absorbing the impact of the hit. 

_ Kriff, I’m tired.  _

Did she need to get up? Djarin probably shouldn’t be alone too long after having just  _ died.  _ She had barely had enough energy to make it up the ladder and fall into a chair, though… 

She counted to three and used the pilot’s seat to help her up. He should know that help was on the way.

-:-

“Since when did you know how to do stitches?” Ravi was sitting on one of the benches in the galley, which the women had taken over, and Anya was on the table above her to get a good angle on her shoulder. Kameron was in the other room, hopefully bullying Djarin into medical help. Amanda hadn’t actually come, though Ravi was assured that it was only after an intense argument between the couple and the teenager. Eventually she’d agreed to stay put when she’d been tasked with keeping the children safe.

“Since I became a nurse.” Ravi left her eyes closed, but creased her brow at the response. She could feel the thread tugging at her flesh, but whatever painkiller Anya had applied did it’s job, and she was only left with the strange sensation.

“Since when have you been a nurse?” Her voice was ragged and deep from exhaustion.

“Since about three months ago. I started studying about a year ago. I’m technically an understudy, but I enjoy it.”

“Congratulations,” she said, and meant it. “How will that work with the baby?” Anya hummed, snipping the thread and beginning another stitch. Apparently the wound had torn into something longer and much less pleasant to look at (which was saying a lot, apparently).

“You noticed?” Ravi snorted gently.

“Anya, do not take this the wrong way, but there was literally no way I  _ couldn’t  _ notice.” Anya sighed at this response.

“Kameron and I will figure it out. Baby number three wasn’t exactly planned.” Another snip, and the beginnings of another stitch.

“You don’t know the gender?”

“No, this one will be a surprise. Kameron is sure it will be another girl, though.”

“And you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is this… a good thing?” Ravi asked, brow creasing at the lack of enthusiasm. She remembered Anya had been thrilled for her first two children.

“Yes, yes, a good thing,” Anya replied fervently. “Just… the last few months have been hard. Worrying about you missing, trying to make sure Manny is safe. Kameron lost his job for a few months before he started working under Kanno. We’re still trying to figure out the logistics.” Ravi nodded.

“I’m sure it’ll work out. When are you due?” Anya gave a teary laugh and set down her tool. Ravi’s eyes widened and she turned on the bench to face her friend. “Oh, Anya. You’ll be okay,” Ravi attempted to comfort, concern running through her and overriding her exhaustion. Anya laughed again, and tears began to course down her face.

“I know, I know that.” Anya pushed away her tears with the back of her hand. “I’m just so glad you’re back and not dead.” Ravi smiled up at her, laughing as Anya cupped her cheeks.

“Yeah, I’m glad I’m not dead, too.” Anya chuckled, shaking her head slightly.

“Two months.” It took Ravi a moment to realise Anya was responding to a question she had asked. Ravi gaped, leaning closer.

“That soon?” She reached out and loosely grabbed Anya’s arms, cupping her elbows. “You must have been pregnant before I left…” She trailed off, and the other woman smiled lightly.

“Are you interested in all of the details of my unborn child’s conception?” Ravi scowled.

“Hmm, I’ll pass, thanks. I don’t need to know if the sex is good, this your third kid, so he must be doing something right.” Anya made a mock-outraged sound, and Ravi laughed.

“Why do you assume that it’s  _ him?  _ That’s a bit unfair.” Ravi scoffed, rolling her eyes. Anya pushed lightly on her side.

“Alright, back around, I’ve got to wrap it up. It’s still a little weepy.” Ravi did as she was told, and Anya began bandaging it. “So what did you do to Mando?” She asked, in a very not subtle attempt to change the subject.

“Right?!” Ravi exclaimed, eyes widening. She’d gotten a...  _ weird  _ vibe from Djarin ever since they’d made it back to the ship. He wasn’t the most talkative person, but he didn’t seem to have any inclination to speak to her, only responding in the least amount of syllables he could manage. She’s already recounted the fight to Anya, but kept the information on how Djarin was injured and how she’d saved him to a minimum. No information about removing his helmet left her lips. It felt private.

“I mean, you saved him, so what’s with the glares?” Ravi pursed her lips, head tilting in thought. The helmet certainly left expressions up to interpretation, but personally she didn’t think he was glaring at her. Looking at her, sure, but not in a malicious way. At least, that’s what she thought. A helmet did make it difficult to read a person. “Maybe he’s mad you saved him, not the other way around. Toxic masculinity and all that jazz.” Ravi snickered before wincing as Anya tightened the bandage. “Sorry.”

“‘s fine. I don’t think that’s it, though. I don’t know, to be honest.” She might know, though.

If someone took off her helmet without her permission or consent, she’d be pissed. Even if it was for a substantial injury, she still wouldn’t be pleased. And he was unconscious (see: dead), and he couldn’t consent to her taking off his armor. She hadn’t allowed herself time to dwell on what her mother had taught her about taking off her or other mandalorian’s helmets. She didn’t really have the energy to think much on it even if she did allow herself to. But the fact remained that, if his beliefs were similar to hers, then she understood why he was upset. He was respectful enough to not hash it out in front of everybody, but she understood.

-:-

Night was falling when they left the galley. Her right arm was in a sling, the armor on it removed and in a cloth bag that Anya held in her grip. A fire flickered outside the ship and the women followed the light. Kameron and Djarin were seated on old wood logs around the fire, the warm light reflecting off of Djarin’s dirty armor. It reminded her that she needed to clean hers. It would have to wait until she could put it on and take it off herself, though. 

“What are you doing?” Anya asked, and Kameron stood, moving to help his wife settle onto her own stump.

“We thought it best to steer clear of the galley, stay on the lookout.” They both settled down, and Ravi leaned against one of the crates that was still in the clearing instead of sitting down. She doubted she’d be able to get back up if she fully sat again.

_ Kriff, I could really use a 14 hour nap. _

“Mando is fine, by the way,” Kameron continued. “Heart’s regular and ribs are bruised but otherwise fine. Did it just like you showed me.” He winked at his wife and she smirked ryely, leading Ravi to believe there was much more behind that statement than she wanted to get into. Anya turned to face Djarin, leaning into her husband’s side.

“Did you get all of them?”

“Haven’t seen any come up on thermal imaging, so I think it’s safe to say yes.” It was the most Ravi had heard him say in a couple of hours, and Anya glanced her way, clearly thinking the same thing. He sounded better than he had earlier, though. Still raspy, but less dead.

“What’ll you do now?” Anya continued her line of questioning. Ravi looked at him out of the corner of her visor, keeping her gaze focused on the glare of the fire. He sighed, seeming to slump down just a bit. He must have been just as exhausted as she was, if not more. He was the one doing all the hand to hand, anyway.

“Turn in the bounty that brought me here in the first place. Try and find another bounty.” He shrugged as if to say ‘that’s how life goes.’ Anya leaned forward, eyes wide and sincere.

“I can’t thank you enough. Ravi and Manny are like family to us. When Ravi disappeared, we all thought the worst. And then when Amanda got sold…”

“I thought she was  _ Lori _ ,” Kameron muttered, and Ravi would laugh if she wasn’t exhausted at the pure look of alarm Anya sent in her direction. As it was, she managed an amused huff as she waved off her friend's concern. Everyone on L’Iuun IV called her that, and she’d introduced herself to him with her name, anyway. 

“Sorry,” Anya apologised anyway, and Ravi nodded, electing to remain silent. Just because he didn’t want to talk to her didn’t mean that she wanted him to stop talking. She looked back to the fire, slightly dimmed because of the tint of her visor. She could see Djarin take in a deep breath.

You don’t need to thank me,” his voice rasped out, getting the conversation back on track, and a frown tugged at her lips at that. Anya’s brow creased.

“What do you mean? Of course I do!”

“We do,” Kameron added, slinging his arm around Anya. Djarin glanced her direction and she tilted her head at him, unsure. Why was he unwilling to accept their thanks? She remembered their conversation on the credits, on how they would split them after the job. Maybe he was better at giving thanks than accepting them? Whatever it was, he seemed a bit uncomfortable. He shifted, but was saved from having to reply when a loud trill went off. Kameron muttered and reached for his belt, drawing out his comlink. 

"It's Kanno, he's requesting a holovid?" He looked to Anya. She frowned.

"You deserve a raise with how often he needs you after hours. Go ahead, answer it." Kameron accepted the call, and Ravi leaned forward to listen in, noticing that Djarin mimicked her movements. 

_ "Kameron!"  _ Kanno's relief was clear.  _ "Are you with the mandalorians?" _

"Kanno, what's this about?" 

Djarin stood, making no sound as he approached the couple.

_ "The office got an untraceable message from an unnamed person. It regards Mando and Lori, so are they  _ there  _ with you?"  _ This was the most serious Ravi had ever seen the man, with stern eyes and hard jaw. Ravi pushed herself off of the crate, moving into frame next to Djarin. He shifted minutely away from her, realistically to make space (presumably because he wanted to make sure to not touch her).

"Yes, yes, they're here." Kameron pressed a button on his comlink, allowing for them all to be visible to Kanno. If anything, his expression hardened further when he saw the mandalorians.

_ "I'm afraid I have some terrible news."  _ Great. Because good news would be terrible after the last couple days.  _ "I'll transmit it now."  _

Kanno's face flickered away, only to be replaced by a masked man, narrow eyes electric and green. The picture was blurry and fuzzy, and his movements were erratic and laggy as he moved.

" _ Hello, Kanno Gronfri, chosen leader of Antullio, Bruan. I have been made aware of an… incident."  _ He leaned back in his chair. He spoke casually, as if it was all a trivial matter beneath him. The way he held himself showed that it was no innocent matter.  _ “You have two mandalorians who have taken away a valuable thing from me. I’m quite impressed, to be honest, they took out some of my prized fighters,”  _ he steepled his hands under his chin, leaning forward to look straight into the holocamera. 

_ “Kanno of Antullio, Bruan, I’m here to make a very generous offer to you and your people. These two mandalorians leave, never to return to this city or planet, or… well, you won’t like what happens.”  _ He said this with resolve, gaze firm and unyielding. After a moment, he tilted his head, consideringly. _ “It was a new market, so it’s not nearly valuable enough to get upset about it. I won’t pursue your hired hunters, Kanno— they revealed some faults in our plans that I consider valuable.”  _ His lightheartedness was momentary, however.  _ “But if they return, or stars forbid,  _ stay,  _ then you can say goodbye to your citizens.”  _ He leaned back in his chair.  _ “Be seeing you. Or not. It’s up to you.”  _ He shrugged.  _ “You have 24 hours.”  _

And the image cut off.

  
  



End file.
